California State Flag

The flag began as an act of improvisation. On June 14, 1846, American settlers seized Sonoma from Mexican forces and declared California an independent republic. They needed a flag immediately. William L. Todd painted the original using blackberry juice for the lettering and red clay for the star, on strips of brown cotton and white muslin stitched together by local women.

The republic lasted 25 days. On July 9, 1846, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Joseph Revere marched into Sonoma, lowered the Bear Flag, and raised the Stars and Stripes. The original flag survived until 1906, when the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed it. What the state flies today is a reconstruction — no original survives.

The California Legislature adopted the Bear Flag design as the official state flag on February 3, 1911. For the next four decades, the bear's appearance varied by manufacturer. In 1953, Governor Earl Warren signed legislation standardizing the design. The artist Donald Graeme Kelley produced the official version based on an 1855 watercolor by Charles Christian Nahl — a painting of Monarch, the last California grizzly in captivity, who had died that same year, 1911.

The California grizzly — Ursus arctos californicus — was declared extinct in the 1920s. The bear on the flag represents an animal the state no longer has. That absence gives the flag an unusual quality: it commemorates both a historical rebellion and a species that California lost after that rebellion succeeded. The grizzly was abundant when Todd painted the original flag in 1846; by the time the legislature officially adopted the design in 1911, Monarch was the last one left.

The republic the flag names lasted less than a month. 'California Republic' was never a functioning government — it was a declaration made by about 30 settlers with no international recognition. The U.S. Navy ended it before it could become anything more. The flag keeps that name because the Revolt was the catalyst for U.S. acquisition of California, not because the republic had substance. For California, the flag is less about the 25-day state and more about the moment of transition from Mexican territory to American possession.

California's flag uses five colors: white, red, green, tan, and brown. It is one of only four U.S. state flags without any blue. California statute specifies exact Pantone and Cable values for all five colors, making the flag's palette legally defined down to the shade of the bear's fur.

The five-color specification is unusual — most state flags use three or four. The separate values for tan (the bear's body) and brown (the shading, paws, and lettering) reflect the level of detail in the 1953 standardization.