Danver Steven L. (Edited). Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia (ENG)
Подождите немного. Документ загружается.
out.” Ide then rallied the men through his oratory: “Choose ye this day what you
will be! We are robbers, or we must be conquerors!”
On June 15, 1846, the settle rs gained co here nce. That morni ng, they r ai sed a
new flag adorned with a grizzly bear, which is now the state flag, and gave them-
selves a name. Hereafter, they were the Osos or Bears, fathers of the Bear Flag
Republic. To provide ideological subs tance, Ide issued a rambling proclama tion,
claiming, incredibly, that they had been “invited to this country by a promise of
lands” and “a republican government.”
With the failure of these supposed Mexican guarantees, the Bear Flaggers
called on all “to assist us in establishing and perpetuating a republican liberal, just,
and honorable government.” Not surprisingly, when Ide revised his decree on
June 18, he dropped the alleged causes and declared the Bears’ intention “to estab-
lish good government.”
Meantime, General Vallejo, who favored American annexation, blocked an
attempt to rescue him, as he expected to be paroled, but on July 16 became a pris-
oner at Sutter’s Fort. Fre
´
mont, who now camped there, threatened to send Sutter,
as a Mexican citizen, across Mexican lines, and closely confined Vallejo and his
friends. At Sonoma, Chief Solano looked after the general’s wife and six children,
while Id e commanded the garrison of 25. N aval officers at last secured Vallejo’s
release from Fre
´
mont’s severity on August 1.
The Californios were quick to react to the capture of Sonoma. On June 18,
Henry L. Ford sen t Thomas Cowie and George Fowler to Henry D. Fitch’s ranch
on the Russian River to ask superintendent Moses Carson, Kit’s brother, for a
barrel of gunpowder. A detachment of Juan Padilla’s command of 25 captured
them near Santa Rosa. Similarly, William Todd, on a similar mission, fell into
Californio hands.
Their fates were different. Three-fingered Jack tortured Cowie and Fowler over
two days, stoning them, pulling out broken jaws with riatas, cutting off pieces of
their b odies, and finall y disemboweling them. Captain Grigsby found the bodies
in mid-July “horribly mangled,” while the Monterey Californian of September 12
carried the lurid details. Even though the Bears captured Three-fingered Jack on
June 20 and heard of his actions, they did not harm him. He later repaid this
kindness by joining Joaquin Murietta’s gang and murdering men of every race
and creed.
Some miles south, Padilla’s men took Todd to Olompali Rancho, midway
between Petaluma and San Rafael. Meantime, General Castro divided his
160 men into three companies under Jose
´
A. Carrillo, Manuel Castro, and Joaquin
de la Torre. The three would attack Sonoma by different routes, but only de la
Torre too k action. He crossed the bay w ith 60 cavalrymen on Jun e 23 from
San Pablo, landed at Point San Quentin, and united with the others at Olompali.
336 Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
Two days l ater, on June 25, 1846, Captain Ford with 19 men encountered the
Californios. The br isk skirmish l eft one of Torre’s men dead, ano ther wounded,
and Todd rescued.
That same day, Captain Fre
´
mont intervened. On June 23, while Torre invaded
Marin County, Fre
´
mont and 90 men marched from Sutter’s Fort to Sonoma. Upon
their arrival on June 25, Fre
´
mont assumed command of a greatly expanded army
that now included 140 Bears. The next d ay, he left a garrison of 75 at Sonoma
and departed with 130 men for San Rafael.
During Fre
´
mont’s week in San Rafael, Sunday, June 28, became a day of
infamy. A small boat landed three men, who hoisted their saddles, and started
walking toward the mission. Kit Carson queried Fre
´
mont, who remarked, “I have
no room for prisoners.” At 50 yards, without even inquiring of their identity,
Carson, Granville Swift, and Sam Neal shot the aged and popular Jose
´
de los
Reyes Berryessa, and the 20-year-old twins Francisco de and Ramo
´
ndeHaro.
“It is well,” was Fre
´
mont’s comment, although he later blamed the atrocity on
his Delaware Indian scouts. Early biograph ers blistered him for his inhumanity ;
some later ones have not.
Later that day, a captured Indian revealed startling news. Torre planned to attack
Sonoma. Fre
´
mont rushed back, while Torre’s skillful ruse allowed him to return to
Contra Costa County unmolested. On June 30, General Castro united his forces in
Santa Clara. Meantime, Fre
´
mont crossed the Golden Gate to the Presidio of San Fran-
cisco on July 1, where he disabled the 10 cannon that Vallejo had abandoned a decade
before. The Americans then gathered in Sonoma on July 4 for a grand celebration.
On July 5, Fre
´
mont officially ended the Bear Fla g Republic after 22 days. The
Bear army became Fre
´
mont’s California Battalion of 250 men commanded by
Captains Ford, Swift, and Grigsby. Richard Owens took charge of Fre
´
mont’s topo-
graphical engineers.
The indecisive Commodore John Drake Sloat, who might have raised the
American flag on July 2, at last raised it in Monterey on July 7. The Stars and
Stripes flew in San Francisco on July 9 and then at Sutter’s Fort and Sonoma on
July 11. As Old Glory ascended, one observer remarked tha t “Cubby [the Be ar]
came down growling.”
John Grigsby with 50 men garrisoned Sonoma, and on July 16, he ably summa-
rized affairs to Captain John B. Montgomery, commanding the Portsm outh.First
he observed, “The Spaniards appear well satisfied with the change.” Then Grigsby
truthfully admitted, “We wish your advice in all respects, as we are a company of
men not accustomed to such business.”
—Robert J. Chandler
See also all entries under Texas Revolt (1835–1836).
Bear Flag Revolt (1846) 337
Further Reading
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of California.Vol.5,1846–1848. San Francisco: The
History Company Publishers, 1886.
Harlow, Neal. California Conquered: War and Peace on the Pacific, 1846–1850. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1982.
Hurtado, Albert L. John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier. Norman: Univer-
sity of Oklahoma Press , 2006.
Rosenus, Alan. General Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans. Berkeley, CA: Heyday
Books, 1999.
Royce, Josiah. California from the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in
San Francisco: A Study of American Character. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and
Company, 1886.
Walker, Dale L. Bear Flag Rising: The Conquest of California, 1846.NewYork:Tom
Doherty Associates, 1999.
338 Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
Bear Flaggers
Bear Flaggers were not many—only 33 participated in the attack on Sonoma on
June 14, 1846—but they were tough. Most came from the border states, often from
interrelated families. They were trappers, hunters, farmers, and skilled laborers,
not afraid to take six months to cross the country to start anew. Virtually all arrived
in the 1840s, most less t han a year before the Bear Flag Revolt. Yet, many had
already participated in Californio politics when they joined Captain John Sutter
in 1845 during the squabble to oust Governor Manuel Micheltorena. All knew
how to take care of themselves.
William Fallon, (c. 1805–1848), known as “Big” or “Mountain,” was a combat-
ive 200-pound Irishman who trapped through the West in the 1830s. O’Fallon
Bluffs on the Platte River commemorates him. In 1845, he participated in the
Micheltorena campaign with John Sutter, and helped capture Sonoma on June 14.
He was a lieutenant in Captain Ford’s company and fought at Olompali.
Henry L. Ford (1822–1860) was born in Vermont as Noah E. Ford. In 1842, he
deserted from the army at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, where he was training
to b e a dragoon officer, when the army would not give him leave to attend his
brother’s funeral. Instead, he took his brother’s name and stowed away on a whaler
for California. He arrived in Monterey in 1842, became a hunter for Sutter, raised
cattle, and participated in the Micheltorena campaign. He was on the horse detail,
and the Bears found his military training invaluable.
John Grigsby (1806–1876), though born in Tennessee, grew up in Missouri, and
arrived in California in 1845 with numerous other family members in the Grigsby–
William Ide party. He was one of the negotiators after the Bears captured Sonoma,
but withdrew upon learning of Fre
´
mont’s wishy-washy support. He soon returned,
became a respected captain, and a founder of Napa.
William B. Ide (1796–1852), a Vermont-born carpenter, farmer, schoolteacher,
and rancher, became a Mormon in 1830s Ohio a nd Missouri, but broke with the
church. In 1845, he was livin g in Illinois and decided to go to Oregon to recoup,
but diverted to California. Ide led the Bears until Fre
´
mont us ur ped his positi on .
Others found Ide to be strange, fussy, bombastic, dogmatic, but even shrewd.
The three Kelsey brothers, Andrew (c. 1820–1849), Ben (1813–1889), and Sam
(c. 1816–1866), were born in Kentucky and raised in Missouri. They were mem-
bers of a large clan of farmers, millwrights, and gunsmiths. Andrew and Ben
arrived in 1841 with the Bidwell party, and Ben became a hunter for John Sutter.
In 1841, Sam continue d on to Oregon, rather than going to Cali forni a. However,
in 1843, he met Ben and Andrew coming north with cattle, and in 1844, he became
part of the Kelsey party going from Oregon to California. All helped build Edward
339
Turner Bale’s mill at Napa, which became a gathering place for Bears. Sam
became a negotiator at Sonoma on June 14, and a Bear lieutenant.
Dr. William T. Knight (c. 1805–1849), who came from a goo d Baltimore fam-
ily, was cultivated, but hot-tempered. He gave up medicine and journeyed to
New Mexico. However, in 1841, being fearless and unafraid authorities expelled
him for allegedly fomenting revolution and he arrived in Los Angles that year. In
1843, Knight established a cattle ranch and ferry in Yolo County, and like so many
other settlers, he joined Sutter in the Michelt orena campaign. Knight led by per-
sonality, and naturally participated in the horse capture.
Ezekiel Merritt, a.k.a. “Stuttering Zeke” (1807–c. 1850), was born in Tennessee
and grew up to be a raw, illiterate, uncouth trapper. Known for hard drinking, a
tobacco-stai ned beard, a nd a notched tomahawk, Merritt took action. He trapped
in New Mexico and came to California in 1833 with Joseph Walker. In 1841, he
was a hunter for Sutter and participated in the 1845 Micheltorena campaign, all
of which gave him knowledge of the land. Later that year, he and Henry Ford sold
grindstones. Merritt captured General Castro’s horses, which precipitated his
attack on Sonoma.
Samuel Neal (1817–1859), a Pennsylvanian, joined Fre
´
mont’s Second Expedi-
tion, wh ere he exhibited endurance, streng th, and good workmanship. In 1844,
Sutter discharged him in California at his request, where he became a blacksmith
for Sutter and l ikewise participated in th e Micheltorena campaign . He became a
Mexican citizen and received a five-league grant in Butte County, at which
Fre
´
mont and Gillespie stopped. He participated in the horse raid.
Robert Baylor Semple, (1806–1854), the son of a Kentucky legislator, trained in
dentistry, law, and printing and also attended William and Mary College. Not sur-
prisingly, the exceedingly skinny, six-foot,,eight-inch Semple became known for
his rhetoric. He became a steamboat captain and pilot on the Mississippi River in
Illinois, until flooded out. On August 17, 1844, he left with Lansford Hastings
and 10 men from Missouri and arrived at Sutter’s Fort on December 24, 1845.
Semple participated in the horse capture and negotiated at Sonoma on June 14.
He later presided over the 1849 state constitutional convention.
Granville Swift (1821–1875), was another Kentuckian, a nephew of Daniel
Boone and related to the Todds and the Semples. While his family became promi-
nent landowners in Missouri, Swift became a hunter. He went to Oregon in 1843,
and came to California with the Kelsey party in 1844. The six-foot, one-inch Swift
was with the horse party and the raid on Sonoma. Although he became wealthy, he
never became cultured.
William Todd (1818–1883), a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln, was trained as a
druggist, but often in poor health. By the 1840s he was in Missouri at loose ends,
and in 1845, joined the Grigsby-Ide party. Todd settled in Yolo County and
340 Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
witnessed the growing tension. “There will be a revolution,” he predicted on
April 17, 1846, adding that if he were still in California, “I will take a hand in
it.” Todd designed the Bear Flag.
—Robert J. Chandler
Further Reading
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of C alifornia.Vol.5,1846–1848. San Francisco: The
History Company Publishers, 1886.
Warner, Barbara R. The Men of the California Bear Flag Revolt and Their Heritage .
Spokane, WA: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1996.
Fre
´
mont, John Charles (1813–1890)
Conceived in the liaison between a royalist French teacher and a married woman,
John Charles Fre
´
mont came into the world controversially, and his life mirrored
his origins. Possessed with a brilliant mind, he could be impulsive, devious,
inscruta ble, man ipulative, charismatic , self-cente red, and vain. One constant was
a disdain for all th ose over him, including the president of the United States. As
a loner, Fre
´
mont was not forthright in what he wanted, allowing others to turn
his deviousness in politics and business to their advantage.
Fre
´
mont’s acknowledged skills brought him a direct commission in 1838 from
the secretary of war into the elite Army Topographical Engineers. Then, in 1841,
he secretly married Jessie, the vivacious daughter of Missouri’s powerful senator
Thomas Hart Benton, which gave him unrivaled preferment to lead three army
surveying expeditions between 1842 and 1846.
Guide Kit Carson and a bodyguard of able Delaware Indians scouts were
common to Fre
´
mont’s fieldwork, but what especially distinguished his surveys
were the accurate scientific measurements, the multitude of observations about
geography, flora, and fauna. The First Expedition in 1842 trave rsed South Pass
into the tangled Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. On a rugged 13,500-foot
mountain, now known as Fre
´
mont Peak, the explorer unfurled the Stars and
Stripes. Fre
´
mont’s Second Expedition in 1843–1844 journeyed to Oregon,
Nevada, across the Sierra in winter to Sutter’s Fort, through Southern California,
and back to the Salt Lake area via Las Vegas.
Fre
´
mont’s reports, published in 1843 and 1845, became best sellers. They sang
of the land and the glories of this national heritage running all the way to the
Pacific. They encouraged settlers to Oregon and later to California, while Brigham
Bear Flag Revolt (1846) 341
Young knew that the Great Salt Lake would be a haven for the persecuted
Mormons. John and Jessie were celebrities, and the nation adored them.
Fre
´
mont’s Third Expedition began in 1845 and culminated wit h the Bear Flag
Revolt. Fre
´
mont, with news from Senator Benton , could feel the tensio n of the
approaching war with Mexico and evidently wished to be around if something
happened. After he reached California in December 1845, he seemed to be in no
hurry to be anywhere. When he approached Monterey early in 1846, Consul
Thomas Larkin warned, “Your encamping so near town has caused much excite-
ment.” Fre
´
mont instead antagonized General Jose
´
Castro.
Tom Chaffin, in his 2002 biography of Fre
´
mont, declared Fre
´
mont’s comments
on his actions to be “duplicitous apologia.” Fre
´
mont gave conflicting answers to
the settlers and abused natural allies John Sutter and Mariano Vallejo. During the
Bear Flag Republic, Fre
´
mont was also responsible for all of the wanton bloodshed
from the American side, two attacks on peaceful Indians and the execution of three
Californios.
After California became American, Fre
´
mont became involved in turmoil, some
not of his own making. Commodore Robert F. Stockton had quickly replaced
the aged and infirm Commodore John D. Sloat, and worked well with Fre
´
mont.
The Americans captured Los Angeles on August 13, but unfortunately, Stockton
placed the rigid Gillespie in command. The Californios revolted on September 22,
forced Gillespie’s surrender on September 29, and kept the Americans at bay until
the New Year.
While Fre
´
mont marched south, Commodore Stockton a nd General Stephen
Watts Kearny put together a huge force for the times, 550 men, and reentered
Los Angeles on January 10. General Andres Pico, however, preferred to surrender
on Fre
´
mont’s generous terms on January 12 at Cahuenga. Commodore Stockton
then appointed Fre
´
mont governor on January 16, but the irascible General Kearny
disagreed. After several weeks, Kearny ordered Fre
´
mont court-martialed.
Fre
´
mont continued to have wonderful opportunities—U.S. Senator, owner of
the rich Mariposa gold mines, two more exploring expeditions in 1848–1849,
and 1853–1854, first Republican presidential candidate in 1856, Civil War gen-
eral, railroad promoter, and governor of Arizona Territory—but through events
and his own actions, they came to nothing.
—Robert J. Chandler
Further Reading
Chaffin, Tom. Pathfinder: John Charles Fre
´
mont and the Course of A merican Empire.
New York: Hill and Wang, 2002.
Egan, Ferol. Fre
´
mont: Explorer for a Restless Nation. Reno : University of Nevada Press,
1985.
342 Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
Nevins, Allan. Fre
´
mont: Pathmarker of the West. New York: Long mans, Green and Co.
1955.
Rolle, Andrew. John Charles Fre
´
mont: Character as Destiny. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1991.
Sonoma
Sonoma, the most prominent town n orth of San Francisco Bay, began in 1823
when Father Jose
´
Altimira chose the site for Mi ssion San Francisco Solano.
Although the final mission was e stablished just before secularization in 1 833, it
supported 1,000 Indians on the produce of 5,000 sheep and goats, 3,500 cattle,
725 ho rses, 500 pigs, and 3,300 bushels of grain. General Mariano Guadalupe
Vallejo (1808–1890) became the administrator of the property.
On June 24, 1835, Governor Jose
´
Figueroa ordered General Vallejo to found a
pueblo, encourage settlers, fight raiding Indians, and watch the Russians at Fort Ross.
Vallejo closed the Presidio of San Francisco and mov ed its garrison to Sonoma, which
he spaciously laid out. The huge plaza—200 varas to a side, a v ara being 33 inches—
today contains the city hall set amid parkland. East of the plaza and across First Street
stood the mission, quadrangle, and straw huts for the few Indians remaining.
Most impressive was Vallejo’s complex, covering 600 feet on the north side of
the plaza along Spain S treet. Moving from east to west, at the east end was a
two-story adobe barracks, 110 feet long by 50 feet, with a five-foot-wide balcony
running its full length. A 52-by-45-foot hall at the eastern end served to assemble
the troops, 40 cavalry, and 25 Indian infantry, and today, state park rangers
assemble tourists.
Westward, a 25-foot wall connected it to Vallejo’s “L”-shaped home, with its
similar balcony and equal 50-foot width. Casa Grande exemplified its name with
a 130-foot frontage, but even its short wing was 100 feet. At the west end, where
the wings joined, a 15-foot square, four-story tower rose. Each floor had a narrow
balcony for watchmen.
A 150-foot wall attached the tower to the two-story adobe home of Vallejo’s
brother Salvador. Additionally, fences and walls separated outbuildings for
stables, barns, and other uses. The general soon had bearing pear and peach trees,
and beginn ing in 1837, he made 250 gallons of wine and 280 gallons of brandy
from his 100-yard square vineyard.
By order and by his cosmopolitan, generous nature, General Vallejo encouraged
settlers to his new town. In late 1834, Jose
´
Maria Hı
´
jar and Jo se
´
Maria Padre
´
s
Bear Flag Revolt (1846) 343
arrived with 150 artisans, and some settled in Sonoma. Alas, they entered factional
politics, and Vallejo arrested both leaders. Appropriately, Lieutenant Prado Mesa
had charge of the adobe ja il along the east side of the plaza among the homes of
retired soldiers.
Through the 1830s, General Vallejo and his ally Chief Solano fought smallpox,
camp aigned against hostile Indians , attempted to stop epidemic horse stealin g—
similar to automobile theft today—and reduced the kidnapping of Indian children.
Unfortunately, Chief Solano turned out to be one of the chief traders. The general,
at least, curtailed his involvement.
The sea always brought a few foreigners, but beginning in 1841, American
overlanders appeared, many of whom received large land grants. On the west side
of the plaza, Alcalde (Mayor) Jacob Leese, Vallejo’s brother-in-law, built a hand-
some two-story adobe home. Nearby was Captain Henry D. Fitch, another
brother-in-law, and Victor Prudon, Vallejo’s secretary.
American arrivals in 1844 included the Kelsey party of 34 from Oregon with
several future Bear Flaggers, and in 1845, 450 came to California. Among them,
20 families from the party led by future Bear Flaggers John Grigsby and William
B. Ide settled around Sonoma. Vallejo, though, yearned for the United States to
absorb California and expected no trouble. In 1844, with the Russians go ne and
the front ier quiet, he grew tired of paying the soldiers and dismissed the Sonoma
garrison. When the Bear Flaggers entered the northern Mexican headquarters on
June 14, 1846, the barracks were empty.
During the Bear Flag Republic, William Ide garrisoned Sonoma with 25 men,
and it became the headquarters for recruits. By June 25, about 120 Bears were in
town. Soon John Grigsby garrisoned Sonoma with 50 men. The Bears maintained
perfect order, with no looting or mayhem.
In America n California, Son oma incorporated as a town in 1850 and be came
the c ounty seat. A large lumb er business supported local commerc e, and for a
while, Sonoma was a stopping point on the way to the mines. Soon, however, min-
ers went upriver to Sacramento, and in 1854, Santa Rosa became the county seat.
In 1851, General Vallejo moved a half-mile away (his home Lachryma Montis is a
state park) and Casa Grande became a school before burning in 1867. In the mid-
1870 s, Sonoma quietly became famous for wine through the famed vineyards of
General Vallejo, Jacob Rink Snyder, Agoston Haraszthy, a family soon among
Vallejo’s in-laws, Jacob Gundlach, and Emil Dresel. It keeps that distinction today.
—Robert J. Chandler
Further Reading
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of California.Vol.5,1846–1848. San Francisco: The
History Company Publishers, 1886.
344 Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
Harlow, Neal. California Conquered: War and Peace on the Pacific, 1846–1850. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1982.
Rosenus, Alan. General Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans. Berk eley, CA: Heyday
Books, 1999.
Royce, Josiah. California from the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in
San Francisco: A Study of American Character. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and
Company, 1886.
William B. Ide’s Proclamation Declaring California
an Independent Republic (1846)
In June 1846, a group of about 30 California settlers responded to a threat from the Mexic an
government to expel all settlers who wer e not Mexican citizens by seizing the town of Sonoma
and taking into custody the Mexican commandante of Northern California. On June 15, the
rebellious settlers issued the following proclamation, which was written by one of their number,
a recent arrival named William Brown Ide. Two days later, Ide and his colleagues raised the Bear
Flag in Sonoma, thereby proclaiming California an independent republic. Ide was then chosen as
commander of the new republic. Only 25 days later, Ide and his group supported the American
commander John C. Fremont when his forces took control of California for the United States.
To all persons, citizens of Sonoma, requesting them to remain at peace, and to follow
their rightful occupations without fear of molestation.
The Commander in Chief of the Troops assembled at the Fortress of Sonoma gives
his inviolable pledge to all persons in C alifornia not found under arms that they shall
not be disturbed in their persons, their p roperty or social relations one to another by
men under his command.
He also solemnly declares his object to be First, to defend himself and companions in
arms who were invited to this country by a promise of Lands on which to settle them-
selves and families who were also promised a “republican government,” who, when hav-
ing arrived in California were denied even the privilege of buying or renting Lands of their
friends, who instead of being allowed to participate in or being protected by a
“Republican Government” were oppressed by a “Military Despotism,” who were even
threatened, by “Procl amation” from the Chief Officer of the aforesaid Despotism, with
extermination if they would not depart our of the Country, leaving all of their property,
their arms and beasts of burden, and thus deprived of the means of flight or defense. We
were to be driven through deserts, inhabited by hostile Indians to certain destruction. To
overthrow a Government which has seized upon the property of the Miss ions for its
individual aggrandizement; which has ruined and shamefully oppressed the laboring peo-
ple of California, by the ir enormous exactions on goods imported into this country; is
the determined purpose of the brave men who are associated under his command.
He also solemnly declares his object in the Second place to be to invite all peaceable
and good Citizens of California who are friendly to the maintenance of good order and
equal rights (and I do hereby invite them to repair to my camp at Sonoma without delay)
Bear Flag Revolt (1846) 345