Father Abella, visitor to the tribe in 1811, indicated they resided in the present location of Fairfield, north of the Suisun Bay.
The Suisunes were one tribe of the Patwin Indians, who were the southern branch of the Wintun group, who had lived in the region for up to 4000 years.
Franciscan missionaries wanted to bring all tribes into the Spanish-controlled missions, pueblos and presidios, however the Spanish had not yet reached north of the present-day Carquinez Strait 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.
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 chief chanting and singing, leapt into the flames, followed by the people of the village, including the women with children and babies.
In 1834, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo 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.
Chief Solano and the Suisunes led many expeditions with the object of quelling the other tribes of the region, particularly "the Wappo, the Satisyomis (aka Sotoyomes, a Wappo tribe)[4] and the Cainameros (aka the Pomo Indians of Cainama in the region toward Santa Rosa)", who were attempting to throw off Mexican domination.
[5] 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.