Site of the Original Flagstaff, 1846
Monterey, Monterey County, California
Marker Inscription
California Department of Parks and Recreation Site of original flagstaff where the American Flag was first raised by Commodore John Drake Sloat on July 7th 1846 taking possession of California in the name of the United States of America later ceded to America under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 Dedicated January 21, 1997 by California State Park Commission and Grand Parlor Native Sons of the Golden West Funded by James A. Bailey Trust
Erected by California State Park Commission
The Story
This spot in Monterey marks where the original flagstaff stood when Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag on July 7, 1846, claiming California for the United States. The seizure came during the war with Mexico, and the territory was formally ceded two years later under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A 1997 dedication by the state park commission and the Native Sons of the Golden West preserves the memory of that morning.
Why it matters
It pinpoints the physical birthplace of American rule in California, one of the pivotal acts of the Mexican-American War and the nation's westward expansion to the Pacific.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The mid-1840s were a moment of enormous ambition and conflict for the United States. The nation was gripped by the conviction that its destiny lay in expansion across the continent to the Pacific, and that conviction collided directly with Mexico, whose territory then stretched across much of what is now the American West. War between the two nations broke out in 1846.
California sat at the far edge of this contest. Its harbors were prizes, coveted for their access to Pacific trade, and its distance from central authority made it a place where events could move quickly. Naval power mattered enormously on this coast, because control often came down to whichever force could plant its flag at the key ports first.
It is against this backdrop of war and westward reach that the original flagstaff on this spot takes on its meaning. A simple pole raised in a coastal town became, for a brief historic instant, the focal point of a nation's expansion — the place where an act of possession was performed in full view.
People & events
The marker fixes a precise moment in place and time: this is the site of the original flagstaff where Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag on July 7, 1846, taking possession of California in the name of the United States. Sloat was a naval commander, and his act was a formal claim — the kind of deliberate, public gesture by which nations announced that a territory had changed hands.
But raising a flag is a beginning, not a conclusion. The marker is careful to record that California was only later ceded to the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848. The seizure of 1846 was an act of war; the treaty of 1848 was the legal settlement that made the transfer permanent, ending the conflict between the two nations.
The monument itself has its own, more recent story. It was dedicated on January 21, 1997, by the California State Park Commission together with the Grand Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and funded by the James A. Bailey Trust — a modern act of remembrance ensuring that the exact spot of that 1846 morning would not be forgotten.
Its place in the American story
This site pinpoints something most historical markers can only gesture at: the physical spot where American rule in California was first proclaimed. The raising of the flag here in 1846 was one of the pivotal acts of the war with Mexico and of the larger drama of the nation's expansion to the Pacific coast.
What gives the marker its integrity is the way it holds two dates together. The flag of 1846 announced the claim; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 made it law. Reading them side by side, you understand that the birth of American California was both a sudden act and a negotiated conclusion — force and diplomacy, two years apart, telling one story.
The territory gained through that process would reshape the country. Within a few years California's population and economy would explode, and it would enter the Union as a state. To mark the precise place where the first flag rose is to mark the starting line of that transformation.
If you visit
Seek out this monument in Monterey knowing that it does something unusual: it marks not just an event but the exact ground where it happened — the site of the very flagstaff from that July morning in 1846. There is a quiet power in standing on a spot pinned down so precisely, where a single act set so much in motion.
Read the marker slowly and notice how it carries you from 1846 to 1848, from the raising of the flag to the treaty that sealed the transfer. That pairing is the heart of the story, so let the two dates do their work as you stand there; the drama is in the distance between the claim and its confirmation.
Because it commemorates a moment rather than a building, this is a stop that rewards reflection more than sightseeing. It fits beautifully into a walk through Monterey's historic core, where the town's role in California's founding is written all around you — a chance to trace, on foot, the place where the American chapter of this coast began.
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
- · John Drake Sloat
Related events
- · Raising of the American flag at Monterey, July 7, 1846
- · Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Custom House
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Built by the Mexican government in 1827, Monterey's Custom House collected duties on foreign shipping when the town was the capital of Alta California, Mexico's far northern province. U.S. consul Thomas O. Larkin contracted to enlarge it in 1841, and on July 7, 1846 Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag over the building, signaling California's passage from Mexican to U.S. rule. Later restored, it stands today as California's first registered historical landmark.
John B. Montgomery
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On July 9, 1846, at the height of the Mexican-American War, Commander John B. Montgomery of the U.S.S. Portsmouth came ashore and raised the American flag over the little bay-side settlement of Yerba Buena — soon to be renamed San Francisco. The act signaled the United States' seizure of California from Mexico. In 1924 the Daughters of the American Revolution marked the spot.
Bear Flag Raising, June 14, 1846
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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 Monument
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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.