The Captivity of the Oatman Girls: The Extraordinary History of the Young Sisters Who Were Abducted by Native Americans in the 1850s American Wild West

by World Changing History

How two young children survived one of the most treacherous stories in recent history… Just imagine fighting for your family’s survival, barely scraping by, and then watching everything you own to be taken from you. Royce Oatman experienced such a fate, and although it’s horrific what happened to the Oatman family, it’s not the whole story. The Wild West, a time in America between 1850 and 1910, is often overdramatized in Hollywood, which does a splendid job of making the Indians seem like savages and the cowboys come across as heroic gunslingers. While at times this may be true, at other times it’s not. We’re all free to study and analyze the history books at our own discretion, drawing our own conclusions. But it’s important that we look at things from as objective a perspective as possible. With a bit of insight into the Native American culture, paired with a larger understanding of how the settlers of the west actually lived, you'll be able to decipher what happened to the Oatman family of your own accord , empowering an honest understanding of this history. In The Captivity of the Oatman Girls , you’ll And much more . The key to properly understanding history is to look at events from an unbiased and open perspective. The Oatman story is no different, and when you allow yourself to take in the details without attaching any preconceived notions of what is or isn’t true, you’ll find yourself filled with new and powerful insight. If you’re ready to take a stroll through history and encounter the truth of the Wild West, then scroll up and click the “Add to Cart” button right now.

Genres: Nonfiction

151 pages, Paperback

Published May 23, 2021

Reviews

[Jeff Koeppen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Misleading title. Far less than half of the book was about the Oatman girls. Mostly this was a book about Native American skirmishes (between European settlers and each other) in the American west, and I'll bet I learned almost as much about other girls kidnapped by the Native Americans as I did about the Oatman girls. I did get some good recommendations for three other books to read regarding woman settlers who were kidnapped by and assimilated in to Native American tribes, though. Cynthia Ann Parker, Mary Jemison, and Mrs. Johnson all went through similar ordeals and wrote about their experiences. Some of these other captivities after kidnapping were better documented. But I would like to read a book about the Oatmans some time. This certainly was a bad choice to spend an Audible credit on. One positive: the narrator sounded just like Woody Harrelson's character in Zombieland.

I'm going to bump my rating up to two stars (even though it wasn't "OK" IMO) because there was some interesting history in this book. Battles were graphically described. The parts centering on Olive Oatman, the sister who survived the longest, were really interesting. It's remarkable what she went through, seeing her family savagely slaughtered and watching her parents' scalps being prepared in the traditional fashion way after she was taken prisoner. But, consistent with other such stories, after years and sometimes decades, the woman gradually grew connected to their Native American tribes and were treated like any other tribe member. The tribes became their family and they learned to love their way of life.

I thought the writing was terrible. Very disjointed. I sometimes didn't know what the author was talking about. A lot of the information was repeated. And the conclusion was hard to follow, jumping all over the place and not making any sort of coherent point at all. Seven minutes of pontificating and rambling. A fitting ending.

[Mary Marquardt · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are two books by the same name. I am hoping that I just selected the wrong one.

This is one of the worst books I have ever read. I expected to read about the experiences of the two sisters captured by Native Americans, their life during capture, and how they were returned to their own people. The book did not get into their actual life after being captured until 56% through the book (per Kindle stats). Less than 1/3 of the book was dedicated to the story. The rest was filled with stories of other massacres. The writing style was juvenile, editing was non-existent. Do not waste your time.

[Tony Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

1850s, The Plain Indians weapons 1st consisted of: bows, clubs, & tomahawks.
The Europeans were smart enough to know they needed to keep peace & be friendly with the Indians.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen & there was terrible bloodshed that occur 1600s-onward into time.
Tribes such as: Kalinago (Chief Tegremond, 1626, genocide); Mohegan; Narragansett; Pequot; Lenape; Wappinger; Cheyenne; Arapaho; Powhatan; Susquehannock (Conestoga); & Yavapai.
Indians as slaves/trade became prominent.

Alcohol & Infectious diseases like: influenza, Smallpox, & measles were introduced to the Indians. They both took a toll on the various tribes/bands.
Royce Oatman (Dutch immigrant, husband/father) led a group of families across Socorro, NM & Tucson, AZ.
He/Mary Ann Oatman (pregnant wife/mother, nee Sperry) had at least 9 children.
2/18/1851, the Oatman family were massacred by Yavapai Indians.
Olive (13) & Mary Ann (7) were taken captive & made to walk to the Yavapai Indian Village.
They were held by the Yavapai Indians & then traded to the Mojave Indians.
2 Pimo Indians found Lorenzo who had managed to survive the ordeal.

Olive Oatman was rescued & taken to Ft. Yuma.
Lorenzo spent yrs. looking for Mary Ann.
Lorenzo later took Olive Fairchild to Los Angeles, CA.

Olive Oatman was portrayed on the AMC TV show Hell on Wheels (2011-2016) by Robin McLeavy.

I don’t think I missed any of these episodes, sometimes a little farfetched but I was sorry to see it was taken off the air.

I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one.

Warning: This book contains descriptive accounts of extremely graphic adult content (racial hatred), violence, or expletive language &/or uncensored sexually explicit material (rape, sodomy, minor/adult verbal, psychological, emotional, physical & sexual abuse (genocide), kidnapping/prostitution trafficking (slavery) of a human for sexual exploitation) which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader. If you are especially sensitive to this type of material, it is strongly advised not to read any further.

An awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very professionally written book. It was quite easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a huge description list of unique characters, settings, facts etc. to keep track of. This could also make another great movie, a classroom PP presentation, or better yet a mini-TV series or even a documentary (A & E; History channel; Frontline; PBS). 1 of the easiest ratings of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free author (s); BookDoggy; Amazon Digital Services LLC. Kindle Mobi; book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, I wanted to be able to give this a good review. I just couldn't, though. There were some interesting ideas and historical facts, however these were marred by the grammatical errors and strange punctuation. The writing was disjointed and jumped all over instead of following any sort of chronology. The whole thing read like a 6th grade history essay.

[Serena Carney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical true story of a Mormon white family captured by Indians; held them as slaves. The 2 sisters and the brother were the survivors left of the Oatman Family. Went through struggles of abuse and tortured tattoos on the face;chin. Interested in reading about history. Rated book 5 stars. S. Carney

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly Written

Only a third of this book discusses the Oatmans. It is also in desperate need of an editor. The grammar, organization, and sentence structure made me wonder if a fifth grader wrote it. I wanted to read the story of the girl with the blue tattoo but I now wish I had paid for the book by that title instead of this one. You definitely get what you pay for!

[Laura Eades · Rating 2 out of 5]

not what I thought it would be

Good book, but NOT a book about the Oatman girls. More an overview of relations with native Americans throughout early American history. Many stories are touched on, but the majority of the book isn’t about the Oatman Girls. More textbook/history book.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

The fact that no individual author put their name in this book should have been a warning sign. It's awfully repetitive and chronologically incoherent. They spend about 5% of the book talking about the captivity of Oatman girls. It mostly recounts violence between settlers and native Americans throughout the years

[KAREN BECKER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history with information about American history

Unbelievable that white settlers and Indian people were so comparable to then wage war. Our history shows over and over again that Indian people were taken advantage of and still are losing.

[Kate Luther · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is very is misleading. While I was expecting a story about the Oatman family, the girls capture and their life with the Native Americans, most of the book was accounts of colonial and Native American massacres and various abductions.

[Jo R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging and thought provoking

This book causes us to re think much of what we have learned of early America from television, and fictional stories. I enjoyed it.

[Coastalknittah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and fascinating account of these times.

[Joann · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read

[Sarah G · Rating 2 out of 5]

The number of times "both sides" was used is concerning.

[Jeannine Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

informative

But sounds like it’s written as a middle school history report on the subject. Mentions several times there are best sellers on the subject.

[catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very informative of our past. Great read!

I loved the information of our history and it's. Non bias of it. I recommend reading this book. It's excellent.

[Monica Hull · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was absolutely nothing in/to this. Hardly any of it was about the Oatman girls and it jumps around history in a dizzying fashion. It left me having no idea what I’d spent my time on.

[Lisa Marcoux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historic Narrative, Not Engaging Story

There were plenty of interesting facts, but it really wasn’t woven into an engaging story. I am still glad I read it though.