Satanta (White Bear)

Satanta
Satanta (White Bear), Kiowa chief, full-length, seated, holding bow and arrows and showing his presidential medal but non wearing his famous military jacket
Native name	Set'tainte (White Bear)
Born	ca 1820
Died	October 11, 1878(1878-10-11) (aged 57–58) Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas
Cause of death	Suicide
Resting place	Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Nationality	Kiowa
Known for	A chief of the Kiowa Nation, warrior, orator
Parent(s)	Chief Red Tipi (Father)

Satanta (Set'tainte or White Bear) (ca. 1820 – October 11, 1878) was a Kiowa war chief. He was a member of the Kiowa tribe, born around 1820, during the height of the power of the Plains Tribes, probably along the Canadian River in the traditional winter camp grounds of his people. One of the best known, and last, of the Kiowa War Chiefs, he developed a reputation as an outstanding warrior and in his twenties was made a sub-chief of his tribe, under Dohäsan, as Chief. He fought with him at the First Battle of Adobe Walls, and earned enduring fame for his use of an army bugle to confuse the troops in battle.

Satanta was born the son of Chief Red Tipi and a Spanish captive and spent his youth south of the Arkansas River enjoying the peaceful alliance between the Kiowa and Comanche tribes.

One of best known leaders of his tribe in the 1860s–1870s, Satanta was well known for both his prowess as a warrior, and his soaring oratorical powers. Dohäsan was the principal Chief until his death. Satanta was one of the Chiefs who negotiated several treaties with the American government during the 1860s, including the Little Arkansas Treaty (1865) and the Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867). In the latter, Satanta agreed that the Kiowas would live on a reservation. When the tribe failed to move onto it, Satanta was seized by General George Custer and held as a hostage until the forced migration took place.

Satanta is primarily remembered in military history as the sub-chief to Dohäsan at the First Battle of Adobe Walls. While Dohäsan, helped by Satank and Guipago, was in command of the combined Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, and Comanche forces which opposed Kit Carson and his New Mexico forces in November 1864, Satanta is remembered for ably assisting him in repeated charges which drove the New Mexico volunteers from the field, and for his repeated blowing of an army bugle, which confused the troops under Carson. Satanta would counter Carson's bugler with trumpeted commands of his own, on a day where the Plains Tribes managed to drive a US Army detachment from the field. The Indian forces assembled from their nearby winter encampments vastly outnumbered the Army detachment, which retreated in good order.