The Bear Flag | |
Use | Civil and state flag, state ensign |
---|---|
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | February 3, 1911 (standardized 1953) |
Design | A single red star in the canton, a red stripe along the bottom, and a California grizzly bear atop a mound of green grass defacing a white field. |
Designed by | Donald Graeme Kelley, based on flag flown during the Bear Flag Revolt |
The Bear Flag is the official flag of the U.S. state of California. [1] The precursor of the flag was first flown during the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt and was also known as the Bear Flag. A predecessor, called the Lone Star Flag, was used in an 1836 independence movement; [2] the red star element from that flag appears in the Bear Flag of today. [3]
The 1911 statute stated:
The bear flag is hereby selected and adopted as the state flag of California. ... The said bear flag shall consist of a flag of a length equal to one and one-half the width thereof; the upper five-sixths of the width thereof to be a white field, and the lower sixth of the width thereof to be a red stripe; there shall appear in the white field in the upper left-hand corner a single red star, and at the bottom of the white field the words 'California Republic,' and in the center of the white field a California grizzly bear upon a grass plat, in the position of walking toward the left of the said field; said bear shall be dark brown in color and in length, equal to one-third of the length of said flag.
In 1953, the design and specifications for the state flag were standardized in a bill signed by Governor Earl Warren and illustrated by Donald Graeme Kelley of Marin County, California. [4] The Californian state flag is often called the "Bear Flag" and in fact, the present statute adopting the flag, California Government Code § 420, states: "The Bear Flag is the State Flag of California."
Pursuant to Section 439 of the California Government Code, the regulations and protocols for the proper display of the flag of California is controlled by the California Adjutant General:
The Adjutant General shall, by regulation, prescribe rules regarding the times, places, and the manner in which the State Flag may be displayed. He shall, periodically, compile the laws and regulations regarding the State Flag. Copies of the compilation shall be printed and made available to the public at cost by the Department of General Services.
When the flag is displayed vertically, it is rotated 90 degrees clockwise such that the bear and star face upward and red stripe is on the left. [5]
The flag is also used as the state ensign. [6] [7]
The first official version of the Bear Flag was adopted by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Hiram Johnson in 1911 as the official state flag. [8]
The contemporary state flag is white with a wide red strip along the bottom. There is a red star in the upper left corner and a grizzly bear facing left (toward the hoist) in the center, walking on a patch of green grass. The size of the bear is ⅔ the size of the hoist width and has a ratio of 2 by 1. The grass plot has a ratio of 11 to 1. [1] The five-point star is taken from the California Lone Star Flag of 1836. [5] The hoist of the flag is two-thirds the fly. [9]
The bear on one 1911 version of the flag is claimed to have been modeled on the last California grizzly bear in captivity. [10] The bear, named "Monarch", was captured in 1889 by newspaper reporter Allan Kelly, at the behest of William Randolph Hearst. [11] The bear was subsequently moved to Woodwards Gardens in San Francisco, and then to the zoo at Golden Gate Park. After the bear's death in 1911, it was mounted and preserved at the Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park. [12]
While the bear flag was adopted in 1911, until 1953 the image of the bear varied depending on the flag manufacturer, and was finally standardized based on an image of Monarch. [13] In 1953 the bear image was standardized based on an 1855 watercolor by Charles Christian Nahl. [14] [15] The 1953 law includes an official black and white rendering of the bear as well as the plot of grass and brown tufts. This drawing and other specifications that define the flag's colors and dimensions are identified as "54-J-03". [16]
The Californian flag is one of two U.S. state flags to feature a bear, the other being that of Missouri.
In 2001, the North American Vexillological Association surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 U.S. state, U.S. territorial, and Canadian provincial flags and ranked the flag of California 13th - 8th out of 50 U.S. states, and the best flag that contains words, specifically the state's name. [17]
The 1953 legislation defined the exact shades of the California flag with a total of five colors (including the white field) relative to the 9th edition of the Standard Color Card of America (now called the Standard Color Reference of America). [16] It is one of only four US state flags that does not contain the color blue (the other three are Alabama, Maryland, and New Mexico).
Color | Cable no. [16] | Pantone [5] | Web color [18] | RGB values |
---|---|---|---|---|
White | 75001 | Safe | #FFFFFF | (255,255,255) |
Old Glory Red | 70180 | 200 | #B71234 | (183,18,52) |
Maple Sugar | 70129 | 729C | #BD8A5E | (189,138,94) |
Seal | 70108 | 462C | #584528 | (88,69,40) |
Irish Green | 70168 | 348 | #008542 | (0,133,66) |
In 1836, a coup led by Juan Alvarado declared Alta California's independence from Mexico. Declaring himself governor, Alvarado recruited U.S. frontiersmen, led by Isaac Graham, to support him. The rebels easily captured the capital Monterey, but were unable to convince southern leaders such as Juan Bandini and Carlos Antonio Carrillo to join the rebellion. Faced with a civil war, Alvarado and the other Californios negotiated a compromise with the central government wherein California's leaders accepted its status as a "department" under the "Siete Leyes" Mexican constitution of 1836, in return for more local control. Alvarado was appointed governor the next year.
The Lone Star Flag of California, associated with Alvarado's rebellion, contained a single red star on a white background. [5] One last original flag is archived at the Autry National Center. [19]
The original grizzly bear flag was created by Peter Storm. A version of this bear flag, designed by William L. Todd, was raised in Sonoma, California, in June 1846 on a date between the 14th and the 17th, [20] by the men who became known as the "Bear Flaggers", including William B. Ide. [21] The exact creation date is at least somewhat unclear. However, U.S. Naval Lieutenant John Missroon reported the flag's existence as of June 17, 1846. [22]
William L. Todd was a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln. [23] According to the book Flags Over California, published by the California Military Department, the star on the flag recalled the 1836 California Lone Star Flag. Todd, in an 1878 letter to the Los Angeles Express , states that the star was drawn using blackberry juice and in recognition of the California Lone Star Flag. The bear was designed to be a symbol of strength and unyielding resistance. [5]
According to the Sonoma State Historic Park, the construction of the flag was described as such:
At a company meeting it was determined that we should raise a flag and that it should be a bear en passant [a heraldry term signifying that the bear is walking toward the viewer's left], with one star. One of the ladies at the garrison gave us a piece of brown domestic, and Mrs. Captain John Sears gave us some strips of red flannel about 4 inches wide. The domestic was new, but the flannel was said to have been part of a petticoat worn by Mrs. Sears across the mountains...I took a pen, and with ink drew the outline of the bear and star upon the white cloth. Linseed oil and Venetian red were found in the garrison, and I painted the bear and star...Underneath the bear and star were printed with a pen the words 'California Republic' in Roman letters. In painting the words I first lined out the letters with a pen, leaving out the letter 'i' and putting 'c' where 'i' should have been, and afterwards the 'i' over the 'c'. It was made with ink, and we had nothing to remove the marks. [24]
The original Bear Flag and the republic it symbolized had a brief career, from about June 14 until July 9. [25] On July 7, 1846, Commodore John Drake Sloat of the United States Navy's Pacific Squadron first raised the 28-star American flag at Monterey, the capital of Alta California, and claimed the territory for the United States. [25]
Two days later, on July 9, 1846, Navy Lieutenant Joseph Warren Revere arrived in Sonoma and hauled down the Bear Flag, running up in its place the Stars and Stripes. The Bear Flag was given to young John E. Montgomery (son of Commander John B. Montgomery of USS Portsmouth), who would later write in a letter to his mother "Cuffy came down growling"—"Cuffy" being his nickname for the bear on the flag.
The Bear Flag given to young Montgomery returned with USS Portsmouth to the east coast of the U.S. in 1848, but in 1855 was returned to California. [26] The flag was given to California's two senators, John B. Weller and William M. Gwin. This flag was donated to the Society of California Pioneers on September 8, 1855, and was preserved at the Society's Pioneer Halls in San Francisco until it was destroyed on April 18, 1906, in the fires that followed the great San Francisco earthquake. [26] Today, a replica hangs on display in the Sonoma Barracks, or El Presidio de Sonoma. There is also a statue in the plaza at Sonoma, California, commemorating the raising of the flag, the Bear Flag Monument.
During the secession crisis and the early part of the American Civil War in 1861, California was divided between supporters of the union and supporters of southern secession. In the months leading up to the war some opposed to the government in Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County showed support for secession by flying variants of the Bear Flag instead of the Stars and Stripes. [27] : 194–195
During the war, Union soldiers protected the West against secessionists who ran up Confederate flags in many places, including above the California statehouse in Sacramento, then disappearing before they could be caught. [27] On July 4, 1861, during U.S. Independence Day celebrations in Sacramento, Democrat and veteran Maj. J. P. Gillis celebrated the independence of the United States from Great Britain and the secession of the Confederacy by unfurling a flag based on the first Confederate flag, the Stars and Bars, but containing seventeen stars rather than the Confederate banner's seven, and marching down the street to the cheers of pro-slavery individuals. [28] This was the only known Confederate flag captured in California during the Civil War. Unionist Jack Biderman denounced Gillis, tore the flag from his hands, and taunted secessionists to try to take the flag back. No one tried. Because Gillis' flag was seized by Jack Biderman, it is referred to either as the "Biderman Flag" or the "Gillis Flag." [29]
The flag of the governor of California consists of the seal of California centered on a field of azure. Like many other U.S. governors' flags, there are four five-point stars at the corners of the field.
The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton, referred to as the union and bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows, where rows of six stars alternate with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 U.S. states, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from Great Britain, which they obtained in their victory in the American Revolutionary War.
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 population was 10,739 as of the 2020 census, while the Sonoma urban area had a population of 32,679. Sonoma is a popular tourist destination, owing to its Californian wineries, noted events like the Sonoma International Film Festival, and its historic center.
The flag of Texas is the official flag of the U.S. state of Texas. It is well known for its prominent single white star which gives the flag its commonly-used name: "Lone Star Flag". This lone star, in turn, gives rise to the state's nickname: "The Lone Star State". The flag, flown at homes and businesses statewide, is highly popular among Texans and is treated with a great degree of reverence and esteem within Texas. Along with the flag of Hawaii, it is one of two state flags to have previously served as a national flag of an independent country. In 2001, the North American Vexillological Association surveyed its members on the designs of the 72 U.S. state, territorial, and Canadian provincial flags and ranked the Texas flag second, behind New Mexico.
Flag Day is a holiday celebrated on June 14 in the United States. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. The Flag Resolution stated "That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."
The California Republic, or Bear Flag Republic, was an unrecognized breakaway state from Mexico, that for 25 days in 1846 militarily controlled an area north of San Francisco, in and around what is now Sonoma County in California.
Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californio general, statesman, and public figure. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of the Republic of Mexico, and shaped the transition of Alta California from a territory of Mexico to the U.S. state of California. He served in the first session of the California State Senate. The city of Vallejo, California, is named after him, and the nearby city of Benicia is named after his wife.
The Native Sons of the Golden West (NSGW) is a fraternal service organization founded in the U.S. state of California in 1875, dedicated to historic preservation and documentation of the state's historic structures and places, the placement of historic plaques, and other charitable functions in California. In 1890 the organization placed California's first marker honoring the discovery of gold, which gave rise to the state nickname, "The Golden State". U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and Chief Justice Earl Warren served terms as presidents of the NSGW.
The California grizzly bear is an extinct population of the brown bear, generally known as the grizzly bear. "Grizzly" could have meant "grizzled" – that is, with golden and grey tips of the hair – or "fear-inspiring". Nonetheless, after careful study, naturalist George Ord formally classified it in 1815 – not for its hair, but for its character – as Ursus horribilis. Genetically, North American brown bears are closely related; in size and coloring, the California grizzly bear was much like the Kodiak bear of the southern coast of Alaska. The grizzly became a symbol of the Bear Flag Republic, a moniker that was attached to the short-lived attempt by a group of U.S. settlers to break away from Mexico in 1846. Later, this rebel flag became the basis for the state flag of California, and then California was known as the "Bear State".
The flag of Delaware consists of a buff-colored diamond on a field of colonial blue, with the coat of arms of the state of Delaware inside the diamond. Below the diamond, the date December 7, 1787, declares the day on which Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution. The colors of the flag reflect the colors of the uniform of General George Washington.
William Brown Ide was an American pioneer who headed the short-lived California Republic in 1846.
Californios are Hispanic Californians, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there since 1683 and is made up of varying Spanish and Mexican origins, including criollos, Mestizos, Indigenous Californian peoples, and small numbers of Mulatos. Alongside the Tejanos of Texas and Neomexicanos of New Mexico and Colorado, Californios are part of the larger Spanish-American/Mexican-American/Hispano community of the United States, which has inhabited the American Southwest and the West Coast since the 16th century. Some may also identify as Chicanos, a term that came about in the 1960s.
José Antonio Castro was a Californio politician, statesman, and general who served as interim Governor of Alta California and later Governor of Baja California. During the Bear Flag Revolt and the American Conquest of California, Castro led Mexican forces as the Commandante General of Northern California.
The Battle of Olómpali was fought on June 24, 1846, between a rebel group supporting an independent California Republic and a Mexican army force under the command of Joaquín de la Torre. It was the only battle of the Bear Flag Revolt. The encounter took place in present-day Marin County, California at a site that is now part of the Olompali State Historic Park.
William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park is a California State Historic Park located on the west bank of the Sacramento River, a mile north of Red Bluff in Tehama County, California. Although it was initially believed that Ide built the adobe, research has shown that he never lived in the place that bears his name today. Nevertheless, the State of California decided to keep the name of the park in recognition of Ide's role in California history.
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The Sonoma Barracks is a two-story, wide-balconied, adobe building facing the central plaza of the City of Sonoma, California. It was built by order of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo to house the Mexican soldiers that had been transferred from the Presidio of San Francisco in 1835. The Presidio Company and their commander, Vallejo, were also responsible for controlling the Native Americans living on the northern border of Mexican California.
Bear Flag Monument is a public artwork located at the Sonoma Plaza in Sonoma, California in the United States. A monument to the Bear Flag Revolt, the piece is listed as a California Historical Landmark.
William D. "Bill" Bradshaw (1826–1864) was a United States western pioneer and prospector. He is best remembered for forging the Bradshaw Trail in 1862 from San Bernardino, California, to La Paz in the New Mexico Territory. Initially this gave the populated areas of California's west coast a more direct route to the Colorado River Gold Rush fields, but more importantly the trail opened up the Southern California Colorado Desert region, and beyond, to settlement and development.
The California Statehood Act, officially An Act for the Admission of the State of California into the Union and also known as the California Admission Act, is the federal legislation that admitted California to the United States as the thirty-first state. Passed in 1850 by the 31st United States Congress, the law made California one of only a few states to become a state without first being an organized territory.
Our state ensign, easily distinguishable, truly embodies the history of this state. The "Bear Flag," known from the annals of this state's history, dates from the days of those early California pioneers and commemorates the biggest bear known to science, the California grizzly, now extinct.
Various bear images appeared on the flag until the design was standardized in 1953 modeled after the 1855 watercolor by Charles Nahl... A copy of this painting, which is in the city of Monterey collection, can be seen in the Colton Hall Museum.
This rallied the settlers into action, and on June 14, 1846, a group of about thirty men—including Ide—marched on the town of Sonoma. The group became known as the Bear Flaggers
William Todd brings news of Sonoma to Capt. John Montgomery of the U.S.N. Portsmouth, who sends a reply with Lt. John Missroon.