Bear Flag Revolt and the California Republic at Sonoma

Background. Mexican officials feared the influx of American immigrants and potential war. In November 1845, Commandante General José Castro met with American representatives at Sonoma. Tensions escalated in early 1846 when Frémont acted provocatively near Monterey. By June, 33 American immigrants, who had entered without official permission, rebelled against the Mexican department's government, setting the stage for the revolt.

The Revolt. Before dawn on Sunday, June 14, 1846, thirty-three Americans arrived in Sonoma. The seizure of the small Mexican Sonoma Barracks garrison, in the pueblo of Sonoma north of San Francisco Bay, is described in a separate account of the revolt, in which some 30 rebels, mostly American pioneers, responded to government threats of expulsion. The American filibusters overthrew the local Mexican government and declared the California Republic, a short-lived unrecognized breakaway state from Mexico.

Monterey Occupation. Commodore John Drake Sloat, instructed to claim California for the United States if war broke out, raced north after receiving reports of fighting on the Texas border. On July 7, 1846, his ships captured Monterey without firing a shot. Sloat raised the flag over the Customs House and issued a proclamation announcing California was part of the United States.