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| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0.5em 0 1em 1em; background: | align=center colspan=2 | The California Republic, also called the Bear Flag Republic, was the name of an informal revolt by Americans on June 14, 1846, in the town of Sonoma, during the Mexican-American War. The revolt against the authorities of Mexican province of California lasted less than a month. U.S. Army Captain John C. Frémont had spread rumors of impending action against settlers by the Mexican government and encouraged rebellion. A group of thirty-three men strode into the Sonoma town center, raised a flag with a bear and star on it (the "Bear Flag") to symbolize a new Californian Republic, independent from Mexico. The republic's first and only president was William B. Ide, whose term lasted twenty-five days. On June 23, 1846, Frémont arrived with his force of sixty soldiers and took over command of the combined forces. That same day the men captured the Mexican Commandante of Northern California, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo who was appointed leader of the town Presidio of Sonoma. Vallejo was taken prisoner and sent to Sutter's Fort where he was imprisoned through August 1st. Unknown to the men, a war had already been declared on May 13, 1846 between the United States and Mexico, but the news took until mid-July 1846 to reach California: On July 7, 1846 a frigate and two sloops of the U.S. Navy, commanded by John D. Sloat, routed the detachment of the Mexican Coast Guard garrisoning the port of Monterey, California in a minor skirmish (the Battle of Monterey), and alerted Frémont and his men that the Mexican-American War had begun. In response the "Bear Flaggers" abandoned the idea of the republic, and joined the efforts to make California part of the United States. They replaced their flag with the Stars and Stripes. Ide was demoted from president to private in the "California Battalion" controlled by Frémont. The most noticeable legacy of the California Republic is the State of California's adoption of the Bear flag (which has a grizzly bear, and the words "California Republic" near the bottom) as the state flag of California. This was the flag used by Frémont and his men; this led their actions to be dubbed the "Bear Flag Revolt." The original flag (there was only one) was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, its placement on the Sonoma Plaza is today one of California's listed Historical Landmarks. The Bear Flag was designed and made by William L. Todd, who was a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the future President. He painted the flag on a piece of brown cotton, a yard and a half or so in length, with a red star representing Texas, and what he intended to be a representation of a common bear in California.*
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