California State Flag

According to the California Secretary of State, a small band of settlers took over the garrison at Sonoma on June 14, 1846, and issued a proclamation declaring California to be an independent Republic, no longer under the rule of the Mexican government. This became known as the Bear Flag Revolt after the flag which flew until July 9, 1846, depicting a star, a bear, a red stripe, and the words: California Republic. The Flag was redesigned and adopted as the State Flag by the 1911 California State Legislature. The description of the first Bear Flag follows:

The 1st Bear Flag 1846

Historic California Bear Flag as photographed in 1890. Courtesy of The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco, www.sfmuseum.org. Colorization by Cynthia Kirkeby based on the description by the Sonoma State Historic Park, California Department of Parks and Recreation

The original Bear Flag was made in the Sonoma barracks on June 14 or 15, 1846. The flag consisted of a three by five foot section of unbleached cotton upon which were drawn a red star and a rough representation of a grizzly bear as an emblem of strength. In blackberry juice were painted the words, “California Republic.” A piece of red flannel was sewn onto the bottom to produce a red stripe. The Bear Flag flew over Sonoma for nearly a month until it was replaced on July 9, 1846 by the Stars and Stripes. Other Bear Flags, four or more of them, were made between June 15 and July 9 for use at Bodega Bay and elsewhere.

“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

When the original Bear Flag was lowered at Sonoma July 9, it was given as a momento to one of the sons of Captain Montgomery of the U.S.S. Portsmouth, then at anchor in San Francisco Bay. Montgomery took the flag to Washington, D.C., where it was placed in the archives of the Naval Department. In 1855, at the request of California’s Congressional delegation, the flag was returned to California for permanent display in the San Francisco headquarters of the Society of California Pioneers. This original flag was subsequently destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. A copy of the flag stands on display at the Sonoma Historic Park in Sonoma, California.

Source: “California Bear Flag: Symbol of Strength,” Sonoma State Historic Park, State of California Department of Parks and Recreation.

 

 

The Current Bear Flag – Modified in 1953

Senate Bill No. 1014 (Chapter 1140, Statutes of 1953)

“420. The Bear Flag is the State Flag of California. As viewed with the hoist end of the flag to the left of the observer there appears in the upper left-hand corner of a white field a five-pointed red star with one point vertically upward and in the middle of the white field a brown grizzly bear walking toward the left with all four paws on the green grass plot, with head and eye turned slightly toward the observer, a red stripe forms the length of the flag at the bottom and between the grass plot and red stripe appear the words CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC.

Dimensions excluding heading and unfinished flag ends: The hoist of flag width is two-thirds of the fly or flag length; the red stripe width is one-sixth of the hoist width. The state official flag hoist widths shall be two, three, four, five, six, and eight feet. The diameter of an imaginary circle passing through the points of a star is one-tenth of the fly length; the distance of the star center from the hoist end is one-sixth of the fly length and the distance from the star center to the top of the flag is four-fifths of the star-center distance from the hoist end. The length of the bear diagonally from the nose tip to the rear right hand paw is two-thirds of the hoist width; the height of the bear from shoulder tip vertically to a line touching the bottoms of the front paws is one-half the length of the bear, the location of the bear in the white field is such that the center of the eye is midway between the top and bottom of the white field and the midpoint of the bear’s length is midway between the fly ends. The grass plot in length is eleven-twelfths of the hoist width of the plot between the rear of the left front paw and the front of the right rear paw is one-tenth of the grass plot length. The height of the condensed Gothic letters as shown on the representation is one-half of the fly length with the beginning and ending letters of the words equidistant from the fly ends.

Colors. The following color references are those of the Textile Color Card Association of the United States, Incorporated, New York; the colors on the flag are to be substantially the same as these color references; White-of the white field and the bear’s eye and on the bear’s claws is White cable number 70001. Red-of the red stripe, the star, and the bear’s tongue is Old Glory, cable number 70180. Green-of the grass plot is Irish Green, cable number 70168. Brown–of the bear is Maple Sugar, cable number 70129. Dark Brown– of the bear outline, paws, shading, fur undulations, iris of the eye, the 12 grass tufts in the grass plot and the setters is Seal, cable number 70108. The General design and details of the Bear Flag shall correspond substantially with the following representations. This shall be the official State Flag of all state, county, city and town agencies. The flags now issued or in use shall continue in service until replacement is required.
(Ammended by State 1953, Chapter 1140.)”

 

 

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