Trial of Satanta and Big Tree facts for kids
The Trial of Satanta and Big Tree was a very important event that happened in May 1871. It took place in a town called Jacksboro, in Texas, United States. This trial involved two important Native American leaders from the Kiowa tribe: Satanta and Big Tree. They were accused of being involved in a raid where seven teamsters (people who drove wagons) were killed near Jacksboro.
This trial was special because it was one of the first times that Native American leaders were tried in a state court, like regular citizens. It got a lot of attention from people all over the country and even from other parts of the world. Satanta and Big Tree, along with another famous leader named Satank, were officially charged on July 1, 1871. Their trial happened soon after, because of an event known as the Warren Wagon Train raid.
Contents
Why the Trial Happened: The Background Story
Fort Richardson, a military fort near Jacksboro, Texas, was built to try and stop warriors from the Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa-Apache tribes. These tribes often left their reservation lands in Oklahoma. They would cross the Red River and raid settlements in Texas, especially during the "Comanche moon" (a time of the full moon when settlers feared attacks).
In 1871, the frontier (the edge of settled lands) was very tense. Native American Plains Tribes were trying hard to keep their freedom and way of life, even though the time of their free roaming was ending. The Warren Wagon Train Raid was one of these efforts.
This event happened on May 18, 1871. A wagon master named Henry Warren was moving supplies to Army forts in West Texas. On that day, Warren and his men were traveling near Fort Richardson. They met General William Tecumseh Sherman, who was the general-in-chief of the United States Army. General Sherman was on a trip to inspect military posts.
A group of Kiowa and Comanche warriors were hiding, ready to attack. Their medicine man had told them to wait for a more valuable target than the small group of soldiers. This decision saved General Sherman, but it meant trouble for the Warren wagon train.
The Warren Wagon Train Attack
Less than an hour after General Sherman left, the warriors attacked the wagon train. Even though the teamsters tried to defend themselves, the wagons were quickly taken over. Seven teamsters lost their lives. The people who survived rushed to Fort Richardson, where they told General Sherman what had happened.
General Sherman realized he had been very lucky to escape. He ordered Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and the 4th Cavalry to find the war party and bring those responsible to justice.
How Satanta and Big Tree Were Caught
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The Army didn't have to catch the war party; the leaders actually revealed themselves. Satank and Satanta returned to their reservation. If they had stayed quiet, no one might have officially found out who was behind the Warren Wagon Train Raid. But Satanta couldn't keep silent.
He went to Lawrie Tatum, the Quaker Indian Agent for the Kiowa tribe. Satanta asked for ammunition and supplies. He then started to boast, saying that he, Satank, and Big Tree had led the war party that killed the teamsters at Salt Creek. He even said they could have killed General Sherman if they had wanted to.
Lawrie Tatum wrote a letter on May 30, 1871, describing Satanta's speech about the raid. Satanta also admitted his role in the raid directly to General Sherman. According to a letter from General Sherman, Satanta openly said he led the attack.
General Sherman then ordered the arrest of Satank, Satanta, and Big Tree. He personally carried out the arrests on the Agent’s porch. Even Guipago, the head chief, tried to intervene with his weapons, but he had to give up because of the large number of soldiers present.
Sherman then had a new idea: he decided to send the Native American leaders to Jacksboro, Texas, to be tried in a state court for their actions. He wanted them treated like regular criminals. This meant they wouldn't have the same rights they might have in a military court. Sherman wanted to send a clear message that actions by a war party would be seen as common crimes, not as acts of war by a separate nation. This was a very new approach.
General Sherman also made sure there would be no mob violence against the leaders. He wanted them to have a proper trial, but he was determined to see them found responsible.
Satank's Tragic End
Satank, a proud member of the special Koitsenko warrior society, did not want to be tried and shamed by the white man’s court. When guards tried to put him in the wagon for transport, he refused and was forced in. He famously told the Tonkawa scouts to tell his family that his body would be found along the road to Jacksboro.
As they left the Indian Agency, Satank began singing his death song, covering his head with a blanket. The guards didn't realize he was chewing his wrists to free his hands. Once he was free, he attacked a soldier with a knife he had hidden and grabbed the soldier's rifle. Before he could use it on the other guards, he was shot and killed. The soldiers left his body on the road, just as he had predicted. His people were afraid to claim his body, even though Colonel Mackenzie said it was safe to do so. Satank's remains were never claimed by his family at that time.
The Jacksboro Trial
There are no written records of the trial of Satanta and Big Tree, only stories passed down by people who were there. Several things are clear from these accounts.
First, the town and the army didn't expect the lawyers appointed to defend the two leaders to be so dedicated. Thomas Ball, a new lawyer from Virginia, and Joseph Woolfolk, a rancher and former soldier, were chosen to defend them. They were appointed because of pressure from groups like the Quakers. But Ball and Woolfolk defended Satanta and Big Tree very strongly against the prosecutor, Samuel Lanham (who later became the Governor of Texas). Their efforts made the case even more famous, and even reporters from other countries came to Jacksboro.
Second, everyone agreed the case became a huge public event, not just in the country but around the world.
Third, Ball and Woolfolk, who were white men, argued that the Native Americans were simply defending their land from invasion. They said the United States had not followed its treaties with the tribes and that a state of war existed between the Kiowa and the Americans.
Finally, everyone remembers that during the trial, Satanta warned what might happen if he was executed. He said, "I am a great chief among my people. If you kill me, it will be like a spark on the prairie. It will make a big fire—a terrible fire!"
Not everyone in the government agreed on what should happen. General Sherman and the Army wanted the leaders to be found responsible and face serious consequences. However, the Bureau of Indian Affairs agreed with the defense lawyers. They believed Satanta and Big Tree should not be held responsible because their actions happened during a time of war between their people and the United States.
But the jury was made up of local people. Despite the efforts of the lawyers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the press, the Quakers, and Satanta's warnings, the two leaders were found responsible. The trial became known in Texas for its "cowboy jury." The trial began on July 5, 1871, and they were found responsible on July 8, 1871. They were sentenced to death.
What Happened Next
The court set the execution date for September 1, 1871. However, this never happened. For the Kiowa people, being executed would have been a more honorable end than what came next.
President Ulysses S. Grant decided that a wiser path than hanging would be to change their sentence to life imprisonment. The President "advised" the governor of Texas, Edmund J. Davis, to change their sentences. Governor Davis then ordered them to prison. Satanta and Big Tree were sent to the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. For a Native American, especially in those days, this was considered a fate much worse than death.
The imprisonment of Satanta made the Kiowa and Comanche tribes very angry. The Kiowa head chief, Guipago, threatened a full-scale war if the leaders were not freed. Guipago refused to go to Washington until he met with Satanta and Big Tree, which he was allowed to do in St. Louis. In Washington, he was firm. The Secretary of the Interior asked if the Kiowa would follow the "peace path" if the leaders were freed. Guipago and Kicking Bird promised they would.
So, in late 1873, Texas authorities released Satanta and Big Tree on parole from the Huntsville prison. General Sherman and most Texans were very angry about this. Sherman even wrote to the Governor, saying he believed Satanta and Big Tree would seek revenge.
However, fighting continued. About a year after their release, Big Tree and Satanta were arrested again for breaking their parole. They were accused of being involved in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls and other events during the Red River War. After an investigation, Big Tree's parole was given back, but Satanta was sent back to Huntsville prison for being present at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. The Kiowa people say he was only present and did not actively fight. He gave up his war lance and other symbols of leadership to younger warriors. But his presence there broke his parole terms, and he returned to prison.
By 1878, Satanta could no longer go on. Guards reported that the Kiowa Chief, who had been called the "orator of the Plains," was in deep sadness. In his book, History of Texas, Clarance Wharton wrote about Satanta in prison:
After he was returned to the penitentiary in 1874, he saw no hope of escape. For awhile he was worked on a chain gang which helped to build the M.K. & T. Railway. He became sullen and broken in spirit, and would be seen for hours gazing through his prison bars toward the north, the hunting grounds of his people.
While Satanta suffered in prison, Big Tree returned to the reservation and lived a peaceful life. He later became a Christian and a minister in the Baptist church. He would sometimes tell stories of his past actions against white settlers, but he always ended by saying that God had forgiven him for those acts.
Satanta is buried near Satank's remains (which were finally collected by the army on Colonel Mackenzie's order) on Chief's Knoll, in the Fort Sill Cemetery, Oklahoma.
Big Tree lived for fifty years after Satanta, passing away in 1929. Fort Richardson, no longer needed after the Plains Tribes surrendered, was closed in 1876.
Literature
- Boggs, Johnny, Spark on the Prairie
- Haseloff, Cynthia, The Kiowa Verdict
- Wharton, Clarance, History of Texas
