Oatman Massacre

Maricopa County · At the point where a side road leaves U. S. Highway 80. · location approximate

The OATMAN Massacre Mohave-Apache Indians in 1851 attacked the Royce Oatman family killing four, seriously wounding one boy, and carrying two girls into captivity. One died but the elder sister, Olive, was purchased from another tribe five years later and was reunited with her surviving brother.

Proposed in this 1958 book. We have not found independent confirmation that this one was cast. That 1997 list covers only state highway right of way, so it does not reach markers on city streets, on tribal land, or in state and national parks.

1958 text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people. The book proposed 100 markers for Arizona's highways and records 14 as cast when it went to press.

Arizona still marks its history under the same law: the State Historical Advisory Commission approves a marker, the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records certifies that its text is authentic and historically correct, and the Arizona Department of Transportation erects and maintains the markers on state highway right-of-way. Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: Historical Markers in Arizona, Vols. I-II (Arizona Development Board, 1958), text by Bert Fireman

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