New Light on the Original Bear Flag

Abstract

FOREWORD ? It is safe to say that no topic in California history has engendered so much controversy as has the Bear Flag Revolt. Even while the events were taking place during June and July 1846, people started quarreling about it: who was back of the movement, they wanted to know; were the participants American patriots or were they merely robbers and thieves? After more than a hundred years, people are still asking these questions. Unfortunately for those who tried, later, to get at the truth, most of the contemporary writers on the subject had an ax to grind. Some of them set out to show that the captors of Sonoma were entitled to the undying grati tude of future generations; others, that the men of the Bear Flag, or the per sons who suffered losses through their activities, were, or were not, entitled to compensation from the United States. And it was not long before the story of the revolt began to be clouded by politics. Such episodes as the Fremont-Kearny feud and the presidential campaign of 1856 produced a good deal of testimony regarding the Bear Flag movement, very little of which can be described as unprejudiced. Then there were accounts written by persons who claimed that they, themselves, or certain friends or relatives, deserved chief credit for the move