206 CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA [eth.ann.17 



their chief headquarters. Some others not already enrolled now came 

 iu and asked permission to join the friendly camp. Set-t'ainte, Big- 

 tree, Woman-heart, and Poor-bnfi'alo (Pd-tadal, "Lean-buffalo-bull"), 

 who had been enrolled at the beginning, bat had gone without per- 

 mis.siou to the Washita and tied from there at the time of the fight, 

 came in soon after to the Cheyenne agency at Darlington and surren- 

 dered with a large number of their people, saying that they were tired 

 of war, but did not like Fort Sill. As it was believed that they had 

 taken part in hostilities, they were not allowed again to resume their 

 position as friendlies, but were sent back as prisoners of war to Fort 

 Sill, where their arms and horses were taken from them and the 

 men were imprisoned, the chiefs being put in irons. Soon afterward 

 Sett'aiiite was returned to the Texas penitentiary (Report, 44). 



SET-T'AISTE 



Sett'aiiite, " White-bear," better known as Satauta, who was thus 

 finally removed from the field of action, is one of the most prominent 

 men iu Kiowa history, being noted among the most daring and suc- 

 cessful warriors of the tribe, while in authority he held the rank of 

 second chief, standing next after Lone-wolf. He has already been 

 mentioned as a leading chief iu 1864. His eloquence and vigor of ex- 

 pression in his native language, a peculiarly forcible one, had gained for 

 him the title of the " Orator of the Plains." Every line of his strongly 

 marked features showed the character of the man — a brave, forceful, 

 untamable savage (figure 45). The persistent eflbrts of the Kiowa to 

 secure his release prove the estimation in which he was held by his 

 tribe. He came early into prominence and was one of the signers of the 

 treaty of 1867, his name being second on the list. His seizure by Gen- 

 eral Custer the next year, iu order to compel the Kiowa to come into 

 the reservation, and his subsequent release, have been narrated. His 

 arrest in 1871 for being concerned in an attack upon a wagon train iu 

 Texas, the commutation of the death sentence, and his release by the 

 state authorities in 1873, have also been noted in the proper place. He 

 was still, however, considered as a hostage for the good conduct of his 

 people, and subject to rearrest whenever they became troublesome. As 

 was almost inevitable, he became involved in the outbreak of the suc- 

 ceeding year, although apparently more by accident than deliberate 

 purpose, and ou coming in to Cheyenne agency with others in the 

 fall of 1874 he was again arrested and turned over to the military 

 authorities and by them sent back to the state penitentiary at Hunts- 

 ville, Texas, to serve out his life sentence [Report, 45). When informed 

 by Horace P. Jones, the government interpreter at Fort Sill, that he 

 was to be returned to prison, he expressed himself bitterly, claiming 

 that he had kept his parole and that there were others far more guilty 

 than he. What affected him most was the entire separation from his 

 peo]>le. He was taken back to prison in November, 1874, and four 

 years later, refusing to live longer in confluement, he committed suicide 



