Local historian dives into the enigmatic life of Native American who helped Gen. Vallejo conquer North Bay (2024)

The intriguing life of an enigmatic Native American man who was a pivotal friend and ally of Gen. Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo is the subject for a lecture by historian Damian Bacich in Sonoma next month.

Bacich’s talk, “The Legend of Chief Solano,” will be presented at the Mission San Francisco Solano chapel on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m. as part of the Sonoma Petaluma Parks lecture series. He is the chair of the department of world languages and literatures at San Jose State University, where he also teaches classes on Spanish and Latin American literature as well as Spanish-English translation.

“Chief Francisco Solano was pivotal because he played an important role in helping Gen. Vallejo establish and maintain dominance in this region,” Bacich said. “He is enigmatic because there are conflicting stories about different aspects of his life and death. For example, he is supposed to be buried near Fairfield, but there are accounts that contradict that claim.”

Solano, also known as Sem Yeto, was a chieftain of the Suysun Patwin Native American tribe, which originated in the Suisun Bay and Suisun marsh regions of Solano County. He was born in about 1800, and 10 years later, he emerged as the next in line to be chief of the tribe.

He was part of a large group of Suysunes that had relocated to Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now part of San Francisco and in 1823, they moved into the newly emerging Mission San Francisco de Solano (now known as Mission San Francisco Solano) in Sonoma. They helped to build this mission, the last Franciscan one established north of the San Francisco Bay.

Solano was described as 6 feet 7 inches tall, handsome and brave.

“He was a man who lived in two worlds: Fluent in Spanish and acculturated to European ways, he was also perfectly at home with his people and traditions,” Bacich said. “He was greatly admired and respected, but also feared.”

In the 1830s, the mission system was declining. Vallejo, with the help of Solano, employed various strategies to consolidate his dominance in the North Bay region.

“Gen. Vallejo needed to establish peace with the various Native communities in the region,” Bacich said. “To do this, he used military force, but also the establishment of treaties, which was very unusual for Spanish and Mexican California.”

Relationships between Indigenous communities and Mexican authorities were complex, though.

“Native peoples interacted with Hispanic communities in different ways and at different times,” Bacich said. “Some, like Solano and Camilo Ynitia of Rancho Olompali, were examples of people who tried to ally themselves successfully with the Spanish and Mexican leadership, while others, such as Succara, the chief of the Satiyomi (Wappo) people, were implacable enemies. And many people probably found themselves in the middle.”

Bacich said that Native peoples not only worked at the missions, but also served as auxiliary troops, engaging in military actions alongside the soldiers.

Solano started earning his reputation as a warrior while a member of mission auxiliary troops and eventually rose to become Vallejo’s crucial partner in military and diplomatic affairs.

Solano and the Suysunes led military expeditions and peacekeeping missions in an effort to quell the other tribes in the region who were attempting to end Mexican domination.

“His skills in leadership both on and off the field of battle were crucial to Vallejo, especially in dealing with Indigenous groups,” Bacich said. “As the ‘tip of the spear’ for Vallejo’s military policy, as well as being his personal friend, he not only impacted Sonoma, but the whole region.”

Solano eventually helped Vallejo to secure peace between the region’s Native Americans and the Mexicans through treaties.

Bacich’s lecture will focus on these and other aspects of Solano’s life. Bacich became interest in Solano due to his importance to the early history of the North Bay region, an area he focuses on in his work.

“The Mission and Rancho eras link us to Europe, Latin America and the Pacific, as well at the first people of this region,” he said. “It also gave us so much about what is iconic about California.”

Bacich was born in the East Bay and later moved with his family to Napa Valley, where he graduated from St. Helena High School. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of San Francisco, he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in Hispanic languages and linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

He has taught university classes for more than 25 years. In addition to his roles at San Jose State University, he is currently involved in other history-related endeavors, including the California Frontier Project website, which he founded.

“Over the years, I have learned a lot about California’s prestatehood history from some very knowledgeable people,” Bacich said. “The idea behind the California Frontier Project is to share what I have been learning with a broader public, and hopefully provide a more nuanced version of California’s past.”

He hosts a podcast at the website, on which he shares interesting stories from California’s history as well as interviews with people who can shed light on it.

“Through it, I’ve been really blessed to talk to some fascinating people and learn some amazing things,” he said.

Bacich also created the California History Teachers website.

“If offers a full curriculum for fourth grade social studies teachers,” he said. “I founded it in order to provide the type of resources I wish my own children had when they were in fourth grade. Now it is used by schools and teachers all over California.”

Throughout his career, he has blended his interests in history and literature in his work.

“I have been able to combine my love for them by researching and translating old manuscripts and other documents from archives in different parts of the Spanish empire, including California and the American Southwest,” Bacich said. “I also teach courses on transcribing and translating archival documents.”

He has no shortage of topics to explore on California’s history.

“There is still so much to learn and appreciate about California’s history: people, places, events,” he said. “We’ve only begun to scratch the surface.”

Mission San Francisco Solano chapel is located at 114 E. Spain St. in Sonoma. On the day of Bacich’s presentation, Thursday, Sept. 19, the doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door and cost $10 for the general public and $5 for Sonoma Petaluma Parks members. Sonoma Petaluma Parks docents and staff members will be admitted free of charge.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.