Everything about Bear Flag Republic totally explained
The
California Republic, also called the
Bear Flag Republic, was the result of a revolt by Americans on
June 14 1846, in the town of
Sonoma against the authorities of the
Mexican province of California; the Republic lasted less than a month. The republic eventually became the present-day state of
California.
Bear Flag Revolt
U.S. Army Major
John C. Frémont had spread rumors of impending action against settlers by the Mexican government and encouraged rebellion. A group of thirty-three men strode into the Sonoma town center, and raised a flag with a bear and star on it (the "
Bear Flag") to symbolize a new California Republic, independent from
Mexico. This use of the flag led these actions to be dubbed the "Bear Flag Revolt."
That same day, the men captured the former Mexican Comandante of Northern California, General
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who was the leader of a private military company at the
Presidio of Sonoma. Vallejo was taken prisoner and sent to
Sutter's Fort where he was imprisoned through
August 1,
1846. The Republic's first and only president was
William B. Ide, whose term lasted twenty-five days. On
June 23,
1846, Frémont arrived with his force of sixty soldiers and took over command of the combined forces. The Mexican governor was concerned, and he sent 50 troops to attack the Bear Flaggers. General
José Castro attempted to stop the revolt, but his forces were sorely defeated at the
Battle of Olompali.
Unknown to the men,
war had already been declared on
May 13,
1846 between the
United States and Mexico, but the news took until mid-July 1846 to reach California: On
July 7,
1846 a
frigate (
Savannah) and two
sloops (
Cyane and
Levant) of the
U.S. Navy, commanded by
John D. Sloat, routed the detachment of the Mexican Coast Guard garrisoning the port of
Monterey, California in a minor skirmish (the
Battle of Monterey), and alerted Frémont and his men that the
Mexican-American War had begun. In response the "Bear Flaggers" abandoned the idea of the Republic, and joined the efforts to make California part of the United States. They replaced their flag with the
Stars and Stripes. Ide was demoted from president to private in the "California Battalion" controlled by Frémont.
Bear Flag
The most noticeable legacy of the California Republic is the adoption by the State of
California of the 1846 Bear Flag as the basis of the modern state
Flag of California; the modern flag also has a star, a
grizzly bear, and a colored stripe and the words "California Republic" near the bottom. The site on Sonoma Plaza of the raising of the original Bear Flag is commemorated as a
California Historical Landmark.
The Bear Flag was designed and made by, William L. Todd, who was a nephew of
Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of future president
Abraham Lincoln. Todd painted the flag on a piece of domestic cotton cloth, roughly a yard and a half in length. The flag featured a red star imitating Texas's lone star and what he intended to be a representation of a common bear in California.
The bear was described as being
en passant (walking),
(External Link
) but on the original flag the bear was drawn
statant (standing). Statant and en passant are terms used in
heraldry. This oversight (if oversight it was) has been corrected on the modern California flag, which shows the bear walking.
The original flag was destroyed in the fires following the
1906 San Francisco earthquake. A replica of that flag, created in 1896 for the 50th Anniversary celebrations, is now on display at El Presidio de Sonoma which was established in
1836 by
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo as a part of
Mexico's strategy to halt
Russian incursions into the region.
Proclamation of the Bear Flag Revolt
William B. Ide wrote the first proclamation of independence on the night of June 14-15, 1846, and released it on the fifteenth:
Sources
- Bancroft, Hubert Howe The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California vol 22 (1886). Also at of California,VOL. V. 1846-1848
- Rice, Richard B. et al., The elusive Eden: A new history of California (2001) ch 7.
- Harlow, Neal California Conquered: The Annexation of a Mexican Province 1846-1850, ISBN 0-520-06605-7, (1982)
-
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bear Flag Republic'.
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