California Bear Flag Revolt
The California Bear Flag was first raised in Sonoma, California in 1846 by
rebellious white settlers, who declared independence for California, in what
came to be known as the Bear Flag revolt. The flag was created by a nephew
of Abraham Lincoln, and contained a large "lone star", a caricature of a
California grizzly bear, and the words "CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC". The revolt
was short-lived. Within months, the United States was at war with Mexico
and the bear flag was replaced by the United States flag. A refined
version of the flag, with a smaller star and finer rendition of the bear is now the official state flag of California.
-
"The Bear Flag is the State Flag of California. As
viewed with the hoist end of the flag to the left of the observer
there appears in the upper left-hand corner of a white field a
five-pointed red star with one point vertically upward and in
the middle of the white field a brown grizzly bear walking
toward the left with all four paws on the green grass plot,
with head and eye turned slightly toward the observer, a red
stripe forms the length of the flag at the bottom and between
the grass plot and red stripe appear the words CALIFORNIA
REPUBLIC." --Official California Record
Rendering and photograph of the first bear flag. The original flag was
destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
- "... the colors on the flag are to be
substantially the same as these color references; White-of the
white field and the bear’s eye and on the bear’s claws is White . Red-of the red stripe, the star, and the
bear’s tongue is Old Glory, [Pantone 200]. Green-of
the grass plot is Irish Green, [Pantone 348]. Brown–of
the bear is Maple Sugar, [Pantone 729C]. Dark Brown–
of the bear outline, paws, shading, fur undulations, iris of the
eye, the 12 grass tufts in the grass plot and the setters is Seal,
[Pantone 462C]."
Various different versions of the bear flag were created and used by the
rebels. Known flags are depicted at left. (Images from State of California Military Dept
http://www.calguard.ca.gov/cada/rm/Pubs/Ca_Pubs/Flags_Over_Ca.pdf)
Links...
Welcome to Sonoma.
Raising the Bear Flag
The Great California Bear Flag Hunt
Grizzly Bear Art
Illustrator: Dennis Ziemienski
California Governor Election
Gray Davis was reelected by a 5% margin last November 2002. He had
outspent his Republican opponent two to one and falsely said that California's
debt problem had been largely solved. Just a couple of weeks after he was
safely reelected he began acknowledging the real truth of a huge and unresolved
debt problem. Californians, download a petition and help to recall Gray Davis.
All citizens, e-mail your California friends and tell them to log on to
recallgraydavis.info
