On 18 February 1851, the Roys Boise Oatman family, en route to California, were attacked by Apache Indians (some sources claim it was the Yavapais) on the Gila River in Arizona. Olive and her sister Mary Oatman were captured, their brother Lorenzo left for dead, and the rest of the family massacred. Olive and Mary lived for a year at a village near the site of modern Congress, Arizona, and then were sold to a Mojave chief near Needles, California, after a march of several hundred miles. Their chins were marked with blue cactus tattoos to proclaim their status as slaves, and they were forced to forage for their own food. In a subsequent year of drought, Mary died of starvation and abuse. Olive stayed with the Mojave tribe until her rescue on 28 February 1856. She was reunited with her brother Lorenzo and the two received national attention and sympathy. Before long, Olive and Lorenzo had a book published (Life Among the Indians [1st edition] or Captivity of the Oatman Girls [2nd edition and other printings] over their experiences and were wanted to lecture all over the United States. After 1859, Lorenzo was no longer needed or wanted to lecture. He later married Edna Amelia Canfield in Morrison, Illinois, on 2 August 1860. He died 8 October 1901. Olive lectured for several years after and then married John Brant Fairchild in 1865. Around the year 1872, she and her husband moved to Sherman, Texas, where her husband founded the city bank. She resided in Sherman until her death on 20 March 1903.