The California Flag

We were shopping in Walmart the other day. On the wall at the end of the checkouts was a list of all the best cashiers, with their pictures and a huge banner underneath with their numbers posted for how fast they could check people out. The kind lady that was checking us out did not have her picture on the board. She didn't make the top ten list of cashiers. She wasn't like "Brittney", the number one cashier who was checking out 570 items per minute. No, shopping at Walmart here in La Mirada is a bit like trying to drive on the 5--long lines, and not enough lanes. (For all those back home who are used to refering to interstates as "I90", out here it is pretty much just "the" followed by the number. "The 5." "The 405." The "110." And of course, the great "The 1," aka "The Pacific Coast Highway."

Anyways, as I drifted about while waiting (not unlike the beginning to this blog entry) I took a good look around. Just above the big Walmart scoreboard was the American flag, and next to it, the California flag. This was the first time I'd really looked at the California flag. Let me describe it. It has a bear in the middle. A red star in the corner, and a red stripe along it's base. A bear, a red star...why is the California flag...so...communist? I thought at the time that all it needed was a hammer and sickle to complete it's U.S.S.R. symbology.

I was so perplexed by the flag that when I returned home I looked around online to find out just exactly why the flag used the symbols that it used. What I discovered was that California flag is not actually that communist. My conspiracy theory was shot to pieces when I learned that the "Communist Manifesto", was published in 1848, two years after the emergence of the "bear" flag. I got confused by this site for a little while (a hoax on snopes.com--who would have thought it? Click on the "more information about this page" link to learn their motive), but eventually learned my lesson about checking my sources and have written the little summery below.

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In 1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain. At this time, Mexico included what is now California, Texas, and many of the other western states. (See Map)

For reasons outside of this discussion, Texas ceded from Mexico in 1836. They won their independence later that year, after battles at "The Alamo" and the great victory at San Jacinto. Mexico considered Texas a "rebel province", and Texas wanted to join the United States. When Texas was admitted into the United States in 1845, the Mexican-American war began.

War was officially declared between the U.S. and Mexico on May 13, 1846. However, news of this did not reach California until later in July. Meanwhile, thirty-three men intent on a revolution knocked on the door of the Mexican Commandante of Northern California, who apparently invited them in for breakfast. Believing in their cause, the Commandate surrendered. Surprised, the Americans declared California independent, and raised a flag with crudely drawn grizzly bear (common in California at the time, but extinct since 1922) and a lone star, an ode to Texas. On the flag was written "California Republic".

On June 23, 1846, American forces arrived, the "republic" was dissolved, and the revolutionaries joined with the Americans in the war against Mexico.

The Mexican-American War ended in 1848. California was admitted to the United States in 1850. The "bear" flag was adopted in 1911 as the official flag by the State Legislature.

Here are some interesting quotes I found:

"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.

"Another man left at Sonoma was William L. Todd who painted, on a piece of brown cotton, a yard and a half or so in length, with old red or brown paint that he happened to find, what he intended to be a representation of a grizzly bear. This was raised to the top of the staff, some seventy feet from the ground. Native Californians looking up at it were heard to say 'Coche,' the common name among them for pig or shoat." -John Bidwell



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In conclusion, history yet again amazes me at its fractal-like complexity. The deeper you look, the more there is to see. The humble beginnings, misspelled words and crudly drawn characters, that later became the symbols for the 6th-10th largest economy in the world. My next question is why is it exactly that the 1911 State Legislature chose the "bear flag" to become the Official State Flag? What about the short-lived ill-organized "California Republic" is worth immortalizing?

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References:
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/toddflag.html
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/73...%201836%20to%201850%20statehood.pdf
http://www.calguard.ca.gov/docs/Flags_Over_CA.pdf
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/oceo/projectwild/bear/33.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_state_flag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas#War_for_Independence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_War_of_Independence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_California