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Chief Sitting Bear
(1810-1871)
Warriors Citation
Born in the Black Hills, Satank had a mother who was part Sarci and a father who was Kiowa. He was for many years the principal
war chief of the Kiowas, leader of the Kiowa Dog Soldier Society or the Principal Dogs (sometimes called Ten Bravest) military
society. About 1840, he aided in negotiating the peace between the Cheyennes and the Kiowas. In 1846 during the battle with
the Pawnee, an arrow wounded him in the upper lip, causing a bad scar for the rest of his life.
Along with Satanta, Stumbling Bear, and Kicking Bird, Satank was one of the signers for the Kiowas of the Treaty of Medicine
Lodge in 1867. This treaty granted the Kiowas lands in Native American Territory if they lived in peace, but the Kiowas did
not give up raiding. In 1870, after his son was slain by Anglos during a raid in Texas, Satank journeyed to Texas and collected
his son's bones in a buckskin bundle. From that day on, he carried the bones on a separate horse in all of his travels. Despairing,
he became a staunch proponent of war with the Americans. With the southern buffalo herds vanishing and treaties being broken,
it was impossible for the Kiowas to remain on their shrinking lands in Native American Territory. In May 1871, Satank accompanied
Mamanti, Satanta, Big Tree, and other noted Kiowa chiefs and warriors when they launched an attack on a wagon train on the
Butterfield Southern Route just outside of Fort Richardson, Texas. In the resulting fracas, the Kiowas killed seven teamsters
and captured forty-one mules. Returning to Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and Satank boasted of the raid to Lawrie Tatum, the
Native American agent. The army quickly arrested Satank as well as Big Tree and Satanta. En route to this trial in Texas,
Satank sang his death song, slipped the handcuffs from his wrists, and then attacked a guard with a knife. In the ensuing
struggle, he was shot and killed. Subsequently, he was interred at Fort Sill's military cemetery. From: historical accounts
& records
LINK TO BRAVEHORSE WARRIORS VOLUME TWO
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