soliciting their aid in a war against the Euro-
peans. They responded by killing him outright
and sending his scalp to the authorities in
Boston. The brief but decisive Pequot War
thus came to its bloody end. Many of the sur-
viving tribesmen were broken up and dis-
persed among other Indian tribes; others were
sold into slavery in Bermuda. Elimination of
the Pequots opened up the fertile Connecticut
River Valley to further colonizing. Having pre-
vailed in the first major Indian conflict waged
in New England, Puritan colonies began flex-
ing their military muscle with every territorial
concession wrested from the Indians. To the
obvious racial overtones propelling such hos-
tility, a dimension of religious intolerance
should be acknowledged, for Puritans openly
regarded Native Americans as tools of the
devil. By 1675, this pattern of aggression and
aggrandizement culminated in an even bigger
and costlier conflict, King Philip’s War.
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Bell, James. “The Charter Effect: The Amerindian, the Pe-
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Perceptions of Native Americans During the Pequot
War.” Rhode Island History56, no. 3 (1998): 62–75.SATANTA
Satanta
(ca. 1830–September 11, 1878)
Kiowa War Chief
S
atanta was a fierce Kiowa warrior
known for colorful outfits and heroic
deeds. He was such a forceful
spokesman for his tribe that whites came to
regard him as “the Orator of the Plains.”
Faced with the prospect of life behind bars
for crimes he did not commit, Satanta took
his own life rather than forfeit his freedom.
Satanta (White Bear) was born probably
on the plains of Kansas around 1830, the son
of Red Tipi, an influential Kiowa priest. His
tribe, along with neighboring Comanches and
Kiowa Apaches, occupied a wide belt of terri-
tory in the Midwest from southern Kansas to
what today is the panhandle of Texas. No-
madic raiders by nature, they sustained them-
selves by following seasonal buffalo migra-
tions that yielded meat, fur, and other
essentials of life. Satanta became exposed to
the military culture of his tribe at an early age
and acquired the reputation as a clever and
fearless warrior. He was distinguished from
contemporaries by his deliberately showy
costume, which consisted of a red and yellow