Bear Flag Monument

Sonoma County · Northeast corner of Sonoma Plaza · location approximate

This monument was erected by the Native Sons of the Golden West and the State of California to commemorate the raising of the Bear Flag on this spot June 14, 1846, by the Bear Flag Party and their declaration of the freedom of California from Mexican rule. On July 9, 1846, the Bear Flag was hauled down and the American Flag here raised in its place by Lieutenant Joseph W. Revere, USA, who was sent to Sonoma from San Francisco by Commander John B. Montgomery of the US Sloop-of-War Portsmouth following the raising of the American Flag at Monterey July 7, 1846, by Commodore John Drake Sloat.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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