Bear Flag Monument
Sonoma, Sonoma County, California
Marker Inscription
This monument was erected by the Native Sons of the Golden West and the State of California to commemorate the raising of the "Bear Flag on this spot June 14 1846 by the Bear Flag Party and their declaration of the freedom of California from Mexican rule. On July 9 1846 the Bear Flag was hauled down and the American flag here raised in its place by Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere U.S.A. who was sent to Sonoma from San Francisco by Commander John B. Montgomery of the U.S. Sloop of War "Portsmouth following the raising of the American flag at Monterey July 7 1846 by Commodore John Drake Sloat.
Erected by Native Sons of the Golden West
The Story
On June 14, 1846, a band of American settlers known as the Bear Flag Party raised a homemade flag on this spot and declared California's independence from Mexican rule, launching the short-lived Bear Flag Republic. Weeks later, on July 9, 1846, Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere lowered the Bear Flag and raised the American flag, following the U.S. seizure of Monterey by Commodore John Drake Sloat. This monument, erected by the Native Sons of the Golden West and the State of California, commemorates those events.
Why it matters
The Bear Flag Revolt was a pivotal step in the U.S. conquest of California during the Mexican-American War, hastening the territory's absorption into the growing American nation.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1840s, the valley around Sonoma was the northern edge of Mexican California — Alta California, a vast and thinly governed province far from the seat of power in Mexico City. Sonoma had grown up around a mission and a small military post, the last such outpost the Mexican government established here, set on the frontier to keep an eye on the northern country.
By the middle of the decade, a trickle of American and other foreign settlers had crossed the mountains and were farming this land, uneasy about their footing under Mexican law. Relations between the United States and Mexico were fraying over Texas and the western boundary, and on a remote frontier, rumor traveled faster than fact.
In the early summer of 1846, that unease boiled over right here in the plaza at Sonoma.
People & events
On June 14, 1846, a band of American settlers took control of the town of Sonoma and raised a flag of their own making, declaring California free of Mexican rule. For a few weeks a homemade banner — not the Stars and Stripes — flew over the plaza.
Everything changed within the month. Far to the south at Monterey, Commodore John Drake Sloat brought the American flag ashore on July 7, 1846, claiming California for the United States. Orders traveled quickly up the coast. Commander John B. Montgomery, whose sloop-of-war Portsmouth lay off San Francisco, sent Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere north to Sonoma.
On July 9, 1846, Revere lowered the settlers' bear flag and raised the American colors in its place. Revere, as it happens, was a grandson of the Revolutionary rider Paul Revere. In the span of about twenty-five days, this one spot had flown a rebel banner and then the flag of the nation that would soon absorb California.
Its place in the American story
The small rebellion at Sonoma and the naval landing at Monterey were two ends of the same story: the moment the United States reached the Pacific. California's transfer was settled formally only after the Mexican-American War, but the summer of 1846 is when the ground truly began to shift.
Within a few short years the discovery of gold would draw hundreds of thousands of newcomers, and California would move almost at once to statehood. The events this monument records were the hinge — the point where a Mexican province started to become American soil.
It is also a story about how flags carry meaning. The improvised banner raised here gave California the grizzly bear and lone star it still flies today, even after the Stars and Stripes went up on the pole in its place.
If you visit
Stand in the Sonoma plaza and you are on the old town square of a Mexican frontier settlement — one of the best-preserved early California plazas anywhere. This monument rewards a slow read; its inscription lays out both flag-raisings, three weeks apart, in the order they happened.
Look around the square for the low adobe buildings and the mission at its edge, and you get a sense of how small this place was when it briefly held the attention of two nations.
Sonoma sits at an easy gateway to the wine country, so it makes a natural first stop on a Northern California road trip — history in the morning, vineyards in the afternoon. Give yourself time to walk the whole plaza; the story here is about one specific patch of ground, and it lands harder when you are standing on it.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Joseph W. Revere
- · John B. Montgomery
- · John Drake Sloat
Related events
- · Bear Flag Revolt
- · Mexican-American War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bear Flag Raising, June 14, 1846
Sonoma, CA · est. 1914
In June 1846, a small band of American settlers in Mexican Alta California seized the town of Sonoma and raised a hastily made flag bearing a grizzly bear and a lone star, proclaiming a short-lived "California Republic." The uprising, remembered as the Bear Flag Revolt, unfolded just as the United States and Mexico slid into war. Within weeks U.S. forces took control, and the improvised banner became the ancestor of California's state flag.
Bear Flag Sesquicentennial Time Capsule
Sonoma, CA
Set at the very spot where the Bear Flag was raised in 1846, this time capsule was sealed in 1996 during the 150th-anniversary commemoration of that event, to be opened at the bicentennial in 2046. It links the founding moment of California's short-lived republic to the community that still gathers on Sonoma's plaza to remember it. The marker turns a historic site into a bridge between generations.
Bear Flag Revolt Monument
Sonoma, CA
On June 14, 1846, a band of American settlers in Mexican Alta California seized the town of Sonoma and raised a hastily made flag bearing a grizzly bear and a lone star, declaring the short-lived 'California Republic.' The Bear Flag Revolt lasted only weeks before U.S. forces folded it into the Mexican-American War, but it gave California its lasting emblem. This monument, erected on Independence Day 1907 near Sonoma Plaza, commemorates that day.
Bear Flag Monument (1907)
Sonoma, CA · est. 1907
This monument, dedicated on Independence Day in 1907, commemorates the raising of the Bear Flag at Sonoma on June 14, 1846. On that day American settlers declared an independent "California Republic" in what was then Mexican territory. The gesture lasted only weeks before U.S. forces asserted control during the Mexican-American War, but its bear-and-star emblem endured as California's state symbol.