Ado-ete, 1850?-1927

Big Tree (Kiowa: Ado-ete (ca. 1850–1929), was a noted Kiowa warrior and chief. He was a loyal follower of the fighting chiefs party (led by Satank, Satanta, and Guipago), and conducted frequent raids upon other tribes and white settlers, often being associated with Tsen-tainte ("White Horse").

Born in Kiowa territory (possibly present-day Oklahoma), Big Tree, along with the Kiowa, was forced onto a reservation at Fort Sill in present-day Oklahoma by the Medicine Lodge Treaty Council in 1867. He began leading raids against white settlers near the reservation and across the Red River in northern Texas. In 1870, Big Tree purportedly led a raid on Fort Sill in Indian Territory, but gained his notoriety from the Warren Wagon Train Raid the following year. Big Tree was arrested days later, along with Satanta and Satank, and tried for murder in Jacksboro, Texas. They were the first American Indian chiefs to be tried in civil court.

A Kiowa war chief, Big Tree (A'do-eete), was probably born circa 1850 somewhere on the plains of western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, or southwestern Kansas. The Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 placed the Kiowa on a reservation in the Leased District of Indian Territory. From there Kiowa warriors launched raids into Texas. On May 18, 1871, Big Tree, Satank, and Satanta were among the leaders of a multitribal war party that attacked the wagon train of freighter Henry Warren in Young County, Texas, near Salt Creek.

On May 27, 1871, Big Tree was arrested at Fort Sill for his involvement in the Salt Creek Massacre, in which the wagon master and six teamsters were killed. He, Satanta, and Satank, all implicated by Satanta, were transferred to Fort Richardson at Jacksboro, Texas. There Big Tree and Satanta (Satank had been killed) became the first American Indians to be tried by a civil court and were convicted of murder. Their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, and they were transferred to the Texas state prison in October 1871. Removed to Fort Sill, both were paroled in October 1873.

Big Tree rejoined Kiowa raiding parties in late 1873. He surrendered at the Darlington Agency in September 1874 and was incarcerated at Fort Sill until 1875. He adopted Christianity and became a peace advocate and an assimilationist. Big Tree died at Anadarko, Oklahoma, November 13, 1929.