I. Bear Flaggers' Statements

    A.) Before 1855

William B. Ide’s June 15th, 1846 dated letter delivered to Commander John B. Montgomery of the U.S.S. Portsmouth by William Todd.

John Elliott Montgomery’s July 25, 1846 letter to his mother about the Bear Flag with the first drawing of the Bear Flag.

John Elliott Montgomery’s October 20, 1846 letter to his mother about the Bear Flag and with another illustration of the Bear Flag.

Robert B. Semple’s letter dated November 25, 1846 to Commander Montgomery, U.S.S. Portsmouth regarding the Bear Flag.

1847 [Feb. 13] THE CALIFORNIAN on the Bear Flag.

May 13, 1847 Report on the Bear Flag Revolt, written by John H. Nash, John Grigsby, and William B. Ide.

     B.) After 1855

Version of the first Bear Flag as told by Nathaniel Merrill, the uncle of Bear Flagger H. Ford, to Warren N. Woodson of Corning (date unknown).

Joseph Warren Revere from  The Pioneer during the year 1878.

Thomas C. Lancey letter from  The Pioneer during the year 1878 .

William L. Todd version of the construction of the bear flag, in a letter to the Los Angeles Express, January 11, 1878.

April 16, 1878 James G. Bleak letter re: Ide's Bear Flag Description from The History of Contra Costa County, Chapter V, The Bear Flag War.

W. M. Boggs' letter on the Bear Flag from S. Ide's The Life of William B. Ide ...(1880).

Lindsey, Tipton, February 1896, "The California Republic, An Eye Witness Story of the Bear Flag.  The Report of George W. ("Babe") Williams.

1896 B. F. Dewell statement from History of the Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Taking Possesion of California.

II. Other Witness Statements/Records

     A.)  Naval Records/Reports

Bartlett’s transcript of Montgomery interview of Jose de la Rosa, June 15, 1846.

Lieutenant John S. Misroon’s report of his June 16, 17, 1846 visit to Sonoma on the order of Commander John Berrien Montgomery, U.S.S. Portsmouth.

Commander John Berrien Montgomery’s 1846 report regarding the visit of Jose de la Rosa and William Todd to the U.S.S. Portsmouth on June 15 and 16, 1846.

Commander John B. Montgomery’s November 26, 1846 response letter to Robert Semple regarding the Bear Flag.

May 5, 1848 Commander Montgomery letter to the Secretary of the Navy about the Bear Flag.

May 10, 1848 Secretary of the Navy letter to Commander Montgomery about the Bear Flags on the Portsmouth.

May 15, 1848 Commander Montgomery letter to the Secretary of the Navy advising that the Bear Flag had been delivered to the Boston Navy Yard.

January 24, 1854 letter of Commandant of Boston Navy Yard to the Secretary of the Navy re: the Bear Flags.

January 30, 1854 Secretary of the Navy letter to the Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard re the Bear Flags.

February 17, 1855 California Senators’ letter to the Secretary of the Navy requesting the Bear Flag.

February 20, 1855 Secretary of the Navy letter to California’s Senators offering the Bear Flags.

      B.) Fremont & Co.

      C.) Alta Californians

June 15, 1846 “Statement of the interview between El Senor Don Jose de la Rosa, and Montgomery U. S. Ship Portsmouth by Lieut. W. A. Bartlett.
                       
April 1851 Antonio Maria Osio on the Bear Flag.

Vallejo on the Bear Flag Revolt “More Like a Pig than a Bear”. 1875

   D.)  Larkin & Leidesdorff

William Leidesdorff’s June 19, 1846 letter to U. S. Consul Thomas O. Larkin on the outbreak of the Bear Flag Revolt.

Thomas O. Larkin’s July 10, 1846 Report to Secretary of State James Buchanan after the raising of the U.S. Flag at Monterey.

July 18, 1846 Thomas O. Larkin Letter Report No. 53 to James Buchanan, Secretary of State on the Bear Flag Revolt.

   E.) Others

September 8, 1855 Senator Weller letter to the Society of California Pioneers about the Bear Flags being donated.

Excerpt from the "Donations" Book of the Society of California Pioneers re: Senator Weller’s letter and the Bear Flags.

III. Treatises/Articles

      A.) Before 1900

Frank Soulé, John H. Gihon, M.D., and James Nisbet. The Annals of San Francisco. 1855 on the Bear Flag.

Bigelow, John Memoir of the Life and Public Services of John Charles Fremont (1856).

Edward E. Dunbar’s 1867  The Romance of the Age; or, the Discovery of Gold in California [excerpts related to the Bear Flag].

Hittell, John S., 1878 "Account of Making of the Bear Flags of the Society of California Pioneers".

Simeon Ide, 1880 "A Biographical Sketch of the Life of William B. Ide".

The Bear Flag War  Its Cause-its Progress-its Conclusion, from the History of Mendocino County California (1880).

Theodore H. Hittell HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA , on the Bear Flag (1885).

BANCROFT HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA, VOL. V. ,  1846-1848, Chps IV-VII (1886)

Josiah Royce California From the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in San Francisco (1886).

Bidwell, John "Fremont in the Conquest of California", The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine (Februrary 1891).

Josiah Royce “Montgomery and Fremont: New Documents on the Bear Flag Affair”  (1891).

R. A. THOMPSON (1896)

The Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Raising of the Bear Flag at Sonoma, California, June 14th, 1846 (1896).

     B.) After 1900

California Blue Book or State Roster 1903 on the Bear Flag.

McGroarty's 1911 California Its History and Romance, Chp. VII, The Bear Flag Republic.

Zoeth S. Eldredge (1912) The Beginnings of San Francisco ....
[Bear Flag Excerpts]

Stellman, Louis John Port O' Gold (1922).

The Birth of the Bear Flag (1939?) by Peter T. Conmy (1901-1996), Past Grand President, NSGW and former Librarian, Oakland Public Library [courtesy of Ted Kaye and from the files of the NSGW].

California Blue Book, 1946, HISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE FLAG.

This Sudden Empire CALIFORNIA, The Story of The Society of California Pioneers(1950) [Bear Flag Excerpt]

California Blue Book, 1958, CALIFORNIA’S BEAR FLAG OF 1846, by Fred B. Rogers.

California Blue Book, 1958, THE BEAR FLAG, by J. N. Bowman.

John A. Hussey’s 1961 article on The California Bear Flag in The History of the United States Flag [excerpt].

Hawgood, John A. "John C. Fremont and the Bear Flag Revolution", Southern California Quarterly (1962) (reprinted here with permission of the Southern California Quarterly and of the University of Birmingham Historical Journal.

The History of the California Bear Flag (unknown date, but before 1990) by David W. Stuart, Past Grand President, NSGW [courtesy of Ted Kaye and from the files of the NSGW].

D. L. Emblen's 1991 Memorial to Don Greame Kelley, designer of the modern Bear Flag.

The Conquest of California from the Descendants of Mexican War Veterans

California's Legislature (Spring 2006)

Elizabeth Martinez article "RAZA PROTEST A DAY OF LIES AND HATE" from De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century, Chapter 27. (Reprinted with permission)

William J. Trinkle Researches/Analyses/Articles

Updated June 22, 2008