[citation needed] They killed her parents and 4 siblings, left her older brother Lorenzo Dow Oatman (1836–1901) for dead, and enslaved Olive and her younger sister Mary Ann, holding them as slaves for one year before they traded them to the Mohave people.

[2][3]: 85  While Lorenzo exhaustively attempted to recruit governmental help in searching for them, Mary Ann died from starvation and Olive spent four years with the Mohave.

The story of the Oatman Massacre began to be retold with dramatic license in the press, as well as in her own memoir and speeches.

[6][7] Dissension caused the group to split near Santa Fe in New Mexico Territory with Brewster following the northern route.

[6] When the party reached Maricopa Wells (20 miles south of modern-day Phoenix, Arizona), they were told that the Gila Trail (Southern Emigration Route) to the west was barren, dangerous, and frequented by hostile Native Americans.

While the other families resolved to stay in Maricopa Wells, the Oatmans chose to continue their westward journey.

On the Oatmans' fourth day out from Maricopa Wells, they were approached by a group of nineteen Native Americans who were asking for tobacco and food.

[7] Due to the lack of supplies, Royce Oatman was hesitant to share too much with the small party of Yavapais.

All were killed except for three of the children: 15-year-old Lorenzo, who was left for dead, while 14-year-old Olive and 7-year-old Mary Ann were taken to be slaves for the Yavapais.

[8] After the attack, Lorenzo awoke to find his parents and siblings dead, but he saw no sign of little Mary Ann or Olive.

In a detailed retelling which was reprinted in newspapers over the decades, he said, "We buried the bodies of father, mother and babe in one common grave.

"[9] The men had no way of digging proper graves in the volcanic rocky soil, so they gathered the bodies together and formed a cairn over them.

It has been said the remains were reburied several times and finally moved to the river for re-interment by early Arizona colonizer Charles Poston.

[citation needed] During the girls' stay with the Yavapais, another group of Native Americans came to trade with the tribe.

[13] Another thing that suggests Olive and Mary Ann were not held in forced captivity by the Mohave is that both girls were tattooed on their chins and arms,[14][15] in keeping with the tribal custom.

[5]: 78 Olive Oatman's 1860s lecture notes tell of her younger sister often yearning to join that better "world" where their "Father and Mother" had gone.

[5]: 73–74  She chose not to reveal herself to white railroad surveyors who spent nearly a week in the Mohave Valley trading and socializing with the tribe in February 1854.

Before entering the fort, Olive was given Western clothing lent by the wife of an army officer, as she was clad in a traditional Mohave skirt with no covering above her waist.

However, her nickname, Spantsa, may have meant "rotten womb" and implied that she was sexually active, although historians have argued that the name could have different meanings.

[5]: 73–74 [19] Within a few days of her arrival at the fort, Olive discovered that her brother Lorenzo was alive and had been looking for her and Mary Ann.

[22] Stratton used the royalties from the book to pay for Olive and her brother Lorenzo to attend the University of the Pacific (1857).

Though she herself never claimed to be part of the movement, her story entered the American consciousness shortly after the Seneca Falls Convention.

[5]: 170 Both Oatman and Mary Brown, Sallie Fox's mother and Rose–Baley Party survivor, lived in San Jose, California, at the same time.

Fairchild was a wealthy rancher who had lost his brother to an attack by Native Americans during a cattle drive in Arizona in 1854, the same time Oatman was living among the Mohave.