Satanta (1820-11 October 1878) was a Kiowa war chief who fought against the United States in the Indian Wars. Satanta was known for his skills as a warrior, using a bugle call to confuse US Army forces at the First Battle of the Adobe Walls and wearing a jacket gifted to him by Winfield Scott Hancock in battle.
Biography[]
Satanta (meaning "White Bear") was born in 1820 along the Canadian River to the Kiowa tribe, and he became one of the last war chiefs of the Kiowa tribe. He enjoyed the peaceful alliance between the Comanche and Kiowa tribes to the south of the Arkansas River, but the peace would be shattered in the 1860s when the United States expanded into Texas' panhandle and the rest of the Great Plains. Satanta led the Kiowa at the First Battle of the Adobe Walls in 1864, one of the largest battles on the Great Plains during the Indian Wars, and he confused the attacking US Army forces with a bugle call. On 18 May 1871, he raided the Warren Wagon Train and killed seven muleskinners, capturing 41 mules heavily laden with supplied. While he was collecting rations at Fort Sill, William T. Sherman overheard him bragging about a successful raid in Texas, and Sherman had Satanta, Satank, Kicking Bird, and Big Tree arrested and sent to Texas for trial. Colonel Ranald Mackenzie took the prisoners south, and Satank died in a suicidal attempt at fleeing. Satanta was found guilty for his crimes and sentenced to hang, but public outcry led to him being pardoned. He resumed raiding soon after, and he would be recaptured by the US Army in 1874. In 1878, he dove headfirst from the prison hospital window, deciding that he did not want to stay in jail for the rest of his life.