| Name | The Bear Flag |
|---|---|
| Use | Civil and state flag and state ensign |
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Adopted | February 3, 1911 |
| Design | Based on flag flown during the Bear Flag Revolt. Contains a single red star, a red stripe along the bottom, and a bear. |
The Bear Flag is the official flag of the state of California. The precursor of the flag was first flown during the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt and was also known as the Bear Flag.
Contents |
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.[1]
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. The Californian state flag is often called the "Bear Flag" and in fact, the present statute adopting the flag, Gov. Code 420, states: "The Bear Flag is the State Flag of California."
The modern 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 2/3 the size of the hoist width and has a ratio of 2 by 1.[1] The five-point star is actually taken from the California Lone Star Flag of 1836.[2]
The bear on the current flag of California was modeled on the last wild Californian grizzly bear in captivity. The bear, named "Monarch", was captured in 1889 by newspaper reporter Allen Kelley, at the behest of William Randolph Hearst.[3] 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.
The flag is also used as the state ensign.[4][5]
The 1953 legislation defined the exact shades of the Californian 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).[6]
| Color | Cable No.[6] | Pantone[7] | Web Color[8] | RGB Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 75001 | Safe | #FFFFFF |
(255,255,255) |
| Old Glory Red | 70180 | 200 | #9E1A36 |
(158,26,54) |
| Maple Sugar | 70129 | 729C | #B08A61 |
(176,138,97) |
| Seal | 70108 | 462C | #54472E |
(84,71,46) |
| Irish Green | 70168 | 348 | #368547 |
(54,133,71) |
In 1836, Juan Alvarado and Isaac Graham led a revolution against Mexican rule. During this first revolt, rebels were able to capture Monterey and declared California "a free and sovereign state". Although their rebellion failed to secure independence for California, it inspired the design of the flag of the Bear Flag Revolt. The Lone Star Flag of California contained a single red star on a white background.[9]
The original Grizzly Bear Flag was raised for the first time in Sonoma, California, in June 1846 on a date between the 14th and the 17th,[10] by the men who became known as the "Bear Flaggers", including William B. Ide.[11] 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.[12] California had been part of Mexico since Mexican independence in 1821 as the department of Alta California, and under the control of Spain for many years before that.
The first Bear Flag was designed by William L. Todd, a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln - the wife of Abraham Lincoln. According to the book Flags Over California, published by the California Military Department, the star on the flag was influenced by the 1836 California Lone Star Flag. William Todd, in a 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.[9]
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 [French: 'in passing'], 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. | ” |
|
—William L. "Bill" Todd, artist of original Bear Flag[13] |
||
The bear on the first bear flag and other early bear flags more closely resembles the more common American black bear than a grizzy, seen in the lack of shoulder hump and narrower muzzle.
The original Bear Flag and the republic it symbolized had a brief career, from about June 14 until July 9.[14] 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.[14] This revived the earliest claims on California by his namesake, Sir Francis Drake (in 1579), and made good American colonial claims on the lands from the Atlantic to the Pacific, "from sea to sea" in the 17th century.
Two days later, on July 9, 1846, Navy Lt. 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 the 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 the USS Portsmouth to the east coast of the U.S. in 1848, but in 1855 was returned to California.[15] 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.[15] Today, a replica hangs on display in the Sonoma Barracks, or El Presidio de Sonoma. There is also a statue in the plaza of 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, secessionists in Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County flew the Bear Flag as their banner of revolt.[16]
The only Confederate flag captured in California during the Civil War took place on July 4, 1861, in Sacramento. During Independence Day celebrations, secessionist Major J. P. Gillis celebrated the independence of the United States from Britain as well as the southern states from the Union. He unfurled a Confederate flag of his own design and proceeded to march down the street to both the applause and jeers of onlookers. Jack Biderman and Curtis Clark, enraged by Gillis' actions, accosted him and "captured" the flag.[17] The flag itself is based on the first Confederate flag, the Stars and Bars. However, the canton contains seventeen stars rather than the Confederate's seven. Because the flag was captured by Jack Biderman, it is often also referred to as the "Biderman Flag".
The flag of the governor of California consists of the seal of California centered on a field of azure. Like most U.S. governors' flags, there are four five-point stars at the corners of the field.
|
||||||||||||||