The Blue Tattoo, The Life of Olive Oatman, by Margot Mifflin

The Blue Tattoo, The Life of Olive Oatman

Margot Mifflin

When I first picked this up at a rummage sale, it looked interesting, but I thought it was historical fiction. However, it's an accurate gathering of information and the history of Olive Oatman.

Olive was a young girl whose family was from a Brewsterite family of pioneers (a branch of Mormonism), they were seeking a "promised land" out west. They branched off from the party they were traveling with, and were attacked by Yavapai Indians. All of them were massacred except for Olive, a younger sister, and a brother. Olive and her sister were taken by the Yavapais as slaves, and the brother was left for dead, and later came to, and found his way to some friendly natives who nursed him back to health.

The girls lived as slaves with the Yavapais for a year and were then sold to the Mohave Indians, and that tribe welcomed them in as family. They were well taken care of, and inducted into the tribe with tattoos on their chins. 

They were happy with the Mohaves, and had assimilated. They expected to spend the rest of their lives with them, and loved their Mohave family. A time of famine came, and the younger sister, who was fragile, died.

All this time, a search had gone on for the missing Oatman girls, and when word came that they could be with the Mohaves, steps were taken to get them back. Threats were made to the Mohave tribe, and so they gave Olive back to the white men, even though she did not want to leave.

She then had to re-learn the English language and white man's way of life, grieving and mourning the loss of here Mohave family.

Eventually a preacher heard of her story and wrote it down, embellishing it, making the Mohaves out to be heartless savages, romanticizing her ordeal. He had it published, and it became a sensation. Olive became a public speaker, but instead of telling it how it was, she was coerced into telling the romanticized version. She pretty much betrayed her Mohave family out of fear of being an "Indian lover"

This book discusses the historical events of the Oatman ordeal and the surrounding circles, and also discusses the discrepancies in the book that was written, along with how her story has influenced books and media. It also follows her life from birth to death.

I really enjoyed this book, a fascinating glance into a life that I had never heard about before. I highly recommend it.

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