Chief_Solano_(Namesake_of_Solano_County,_California)

The Suisunes (also called the Suisun and the "People of the West Wind") were a

Patwin The Patwin (also Patween, Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people native to the area of Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500 AD. The Patw ...

tribe of

Wintun The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern).Pritzker, 152Suisin Bay and

Suisun Marsh Located in northern California, the Suisun Marsh ( ) has been referred to as the largest brackish water marsh on west coast of the United States of America. The marsh land is part of the San Francisco Bay tidal estuary, and subject to tidal ebb ...

regions of

Solano County Solano County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield. Solano County comprises the Vallejo–Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...

in Northern California. Their traditional homelands stretched between what is now Suisun City,

Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it ...

and

Putah Creek Putah Creek (Patwin: ''Liwaito'') is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flow ...

around 200 years ago. The Suisunes' main village, Yulyul, is believed to be where Rockville, California is located today. Father Abella, visitor to the tribe in 1811, indicated they resided in the present location of Fairfield, north of the Suisun Bay.Milliken 1995:255. One of the Suisunes' primary food sources was acorns. Their diet also included fish as well as miner's lettuce. Their huts (as recorded by the Spaniards in 1817) were conical wikiups made of rushes or

tule ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the pl ...

thatch.

History

The Suisunes were one tribe of the

Indians, who were the southern branch of the

Wintun The Wintun are members of several related Native American peoples of Northern California, including the Wintu (northern), Nomlaki (central), and Patwin (southern).Pritzker, 152Ohlone region south and west of the Suisunes' region. The closest mission to the Suisunes was across the San Francisco Bay,

Mission San Francisco de Asís Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionaries wanted to bring all tribes into the Spanish-controlled

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

s and

presidio A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th and 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Spanish Philippines in particular, were cen ...

s, however the Spanish had not yet reached north of the present-day

Carquinez Strait The Carquinez Strait (; Spanish: ''Estrecho de Carquinez'') is a narrow tidal strait in Northern California. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain into the San Francisco Bay. The strait is ...

to the Suisunes. The Suisunes lived sufficiently far away from the first missions to rebel from the incoming Spaniards, and over time they joined with the other Patwin tribes in the central valley region to resist the incursion on their lands and maintain their freedom. They acquired horses from mission runaways and mission outposts. The Suisunes might have avoided contact for several more decades with the missionaries, however in the early 19th century, Indian runaways from the missions began to seek shelter with the Suisunes. The missions would send

Mission Indians Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and ...

to round up "Christian" runaways. The interaction set in motion a chain of Indian battles and growing distrust.

Battles

*In 1804, 14

identified as Saclan and Jalquin ventured into the Suisun homeland to recapture mission runaways, and were either killed or died in an unfortunate drowning accident. The facts are unclear. The mission statement of their deaths included this note: "It is not possible to affirm whether they died by drowning or at the hands of the pagans (i.e., the Suisunes)... I am inclined to believe they died by drowning. If the pagans (Suisunes) had killed them, their relatives would have told me about it." *By the year 1807, 62 runaways from the missions lived in the regions of Suisunes. In February 1807, 40 Mission Indians ventured in Suisun territory looking for January runaways, particularly to reclaim one man's wife. The runaways fought for their freedom, the Suisunes defending them. 12 of the attacking Mission Indians died, the rest retreated. *In May 1810, three more traveling Mission Indians were killed by Suisunes. In retribution, the Spaniard

Gabriel Moraga Gabriel Moraga (1765 – June 14, 1823) was a Sonoran-born Californio explorer and army officer. He was the son of the expeditionary José Joaquín Moraga who helped lead the de Anza Expedition to California in 1774, Like his father, Moraga is on ...

led an attack on 125 Suisunes and "a fierce battle took place". 125 Suisun men in this battle were driven into three huts and killed. Two huts of men died in battle, one hut was consumed by fire. The soldiers returned to San Francisco with "6 boys and 6 girls of Suisuns and Chupcans."

Migration

The next year in 1811, perhaps due to the loss of 125 men, a large group of Suisunes gave up the resistance and moved into

in present-day San Francisco. A total of 326 Suisunes were baptized at this mission between 1810 and 1816.

Village perishes

In 1817, Jose DeArguello, the commandant of the Presidio of San Francisco sent his lieutenant Jose Sanchez to lead another attack against the Suisun tribe, believed to have taken place in the hills behind Benicia. The Spaniards subsequently gained ground in present-day Fairfield and Suisun City today, reaching the Suisun village of ''Chief Malica'',

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...

of the tribe. At this village, probably with imminent defeat of his people, Chief Malica and the majority of the tribe chose to end their lives in a tragic mass suicide. The Spaniards witnessed the village's brushy huts burst into flames. The chief chanting and singing, leapt into the flames, followed by the people of the village, including the women with children and babies. The Spaniards tried to save some while several Indians fled into the hills. The remaining tribe survived in the hills or through assimilation, reemerging under the leadership of ''Chief Sem-Yeto'', also known as ''Chief Solano''.

Era of Chief (Sem-Yeto) Solano 1823-1850s

Sem-Yeto (later known as Chief Solano), born about 1800, emerged as the next in line to be the chief of the next generation of Suisunes. Sem-Yeto was described as tall, 6 feet 7 inches, handsome and brave. Sem-Yeto was baptized in the San Francisco Mission in July 1810 at roughly age 10 with the name "Francisco Solano" and lived there until adulthood. He became known as '' Chief Solano''. His baptism took place 2 months after the tragedy of 1810. Sem-Yeto was possibly captured as a child in Moraga's raid of 1810 or his family brought him within two months of the battle. In 1823, Sem-Yeto and the Suisun people at Mission San Francisco moved into the new mission in the town of

Sonoma, California Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's p ...

, the Mission San Francisco de Solano, to help build and populate this final Franciscan mission built north of the San Francisco Bay. In 1834, General

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Don (honorific), Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (4 July 1807 – 18 January 1890) was a Californios, Californio general, statesman, and public figure. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of the Republic of ...

of Sonoma, as the comandante of the new pueblo projects in the region, became a very valuable patron and friend to Chief Solano, and formed an alliance with the Suisunes. The mission system was closing down. Chief Solano and the Suisunes led many expeditions with the object of quelling the other tribes of the region, particularly "the

Wappo The Wappo ( endonym: ''Micewal'') are an indigenous people of northern California. Their traditional homelands are in Napa Valley, the south shore of Clear Lake, Alexander Valley, and Russian River valley. They are distantly related to the Yu ...

, the Satisyomis (aka Sotoyomes, a Wappo tribe) and the Cainameros (aka the

Pomo The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small ...

Indians of Cainama in the region toward Santa Rosa)", who were attempting to throw off Mexican domination. Chief Solano eventually helped to secure peace between the region's Native Americans and the Mexicans. A peace treaty was signed in 1836. With the alliance with General Vallejo, the tribe was relatively powerful. On a political venture, Vallejo even arranged for and sent Chief Solano and 100 warrior Suisunes to travel down to Monterey, California to impress and seek military support from

Juan Bautista Alvarado Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independe ...

, governor of Alta California (1836–1837, 1838–1842). In 1837, a smallpox epidemic decimated the native population of the Sonoma region, as well as from other diseases brought in from the Spaniards as well as the Russians at

Fort Ross Fort Ross ( Russian: Форт-Росс, Kashaya ''mé·ṭiʔni''), originally Fortress Ross ( pre-reformed Russian: Крѣпость Россъ, tr. ''Krepostʹ Ross''), is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America i ...

.Cook 1976:213-214.Silliman, 2004. Chief Solano was one of the few natives to receive a vaccination. Chief Solano was also one of a handful of natives to receive a land grant in the mission secularization and parcelling out of Mexican-American lands. The Suisunes who survived the epidemic began to earn their livelihoods through farm labor or fishing. Some chose to work as seasonal or year-round ranch labors for Vallejo at the

Rancho Petaluma Adobe Rancho Petaluma Adobe is a historic ranch house in Sonoma County, California. It was built from adobe bricks in 1836 by order of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It was the largest privately owned adobe structure built in California and is the largest ...

or other area ranches. In 1846, at the end of the Bear Flag Revolt when California was ceded to the United States, General Vallejo was taken prisoner by Americans at Sutter's Fort, Sem-Yeto fled north, and the people continued to earn their living on the ranches of California.

Notable Suisunes

Chief Solano Sem-Yeto () was a leader of the Suisunes, a Patwin people of the Suisun Bay region of northern California. Baptized as Francisco Solano and also known as Chief Solano, he was a notable Native American leader in Alta California because of his a ...

* Chief Malica

Named after

is named after Chief (Sem-Yeto) Francisco Solano.

and Suisun Bay are named after the Suisun tribe. Suisun City is named after the Suisun tribe as well as the marsh.

Notes

Sources

* Fink, Augusta. ''Monterey, The Presence of the Past.'' San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1972. . * Milliken, Randall. ''A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1910'' Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication, 1995. (alk. paper) *Lewis Pub.
''A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California
', Chicago, IL: Lewis Publ. Co., 1891. (For post-mission era, intertribal battles) * Silliman, Stephen. ''Lost Laborers in Colonial California, Native Americans and the Archaeology of Rancho Petaluma''. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2004. .

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061101091352/http://cagenweb.com/solano/county_history.htm History of Solano County, Californiabr>Sonoma State Historic Park
{{authority control California Mission Indians Native American tribes in California Sacramento Valley Wintun Patwin