![[California Monterey red star flag]](../images/u/us-ca1836.gif)
image by Pete Loeser, 17 February 200
Last modified: 2018-12-24 by rick wyatt
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image by Pete Loeser, 17 February 200
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"Juan Alvarado (full name: Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo) had
been elected to the Alta California (State) Deputación (English: Legislature) in
1834 as a delegate and appointed Inspector de Aduanas (English: Customs
Inspector) in
Monterey (then, part of Mexico. In 1836, the designation Las Californias (English: The Californias) was
revived, reuniting Alta and Baja California into a single Departamento
(English: Department) as part of the conservative government reforms codified
in the Siete Leyes (Seven Laws), formally becoming "Departamento de Las
Californias" (The Californias Department).
General José Figueroa was the
Governor of Alta California from 1833, until his death in September 1835. The
Mexican government had then appointed Lieutenant Colonel Nicolás Gutiérrez as
interim Governor in January 1836, against the wishes of the Diputación. He
was replaced by Colonel Mariano Chico in April, but Chico was very unpopular.
His intelligence agents told him that yet another Californio revolt was
brewing, and so he fled back to Mexico, claiming he planned to gather troops
against the independent Californios. Instead, however, Mexico reprimanded him
for abandoning his post. Gutiérrez, the military commandant, re-assumed the
governorship, but like the Mexican governors before him, the Californios
forced him, too, to flee. As senior members of the legislature, Alvarado and
his brother-in-law José Antonio Castro, with political support from his uncle
General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (some other sources mention he did not
support the coup) and military support by U.S. Capt. Isaac Graham and his
"Tennessee Rifles" (a military unit) went south and negotiated a compromise
after three months, avoiding a civil war. However, the city council of San Diego then voiced its
disagreement with Alvarado's revolt. This time, the Mexican government was
involved and there were rumors that the Mexican Army was ready to step in.
Alvarado was able to negotiate another compromise to keep the peace. However,
a staged a revolt of 170 Californios commanded by Castro and 50 Americans
(the so called "Tennessee Rifles") marched on Monterey. After the rebels
fired a single cannon shot into the Presidio de Monterrey (English: Presidio
de Monterrey) (a fort), Governor Gutiérrez surrendered on November 5, 1836.
On November 7, Alvarado wrote to his uncle Mariano Vallejo, informing him
that he had claimed to be acting under Vallejo's orders and asking him to
come to Monterey to take part in the government. Vallejo came to Monterey as
a hero, and on November 29, the Diputación promoted Vallejo from Alférez
(English: Ensign, but more properly according to the time an Officer with the
equivalent rank of Second Lieutenant) to Colonel and named him Comandante
General (English: Commander General) of the "Free State of Alta California",
while Alvarado was named Governor. Alvarado declared independence for
California as the "Free (and Sovereign) State of Alta California",
proclaiming a constitution and adopted a new flag, called the "Lone Star Flag
of California". This flag was a horizontal white background with a red star
in the middle. However, after negotiations with the territorial Diputación
(Legislature), he (Alvarado) was persuaded to rejoin Mexico peacefully in
exchange for more local autonomy and the Federal Government in Mexico City
would later endorse Vallejo and Alvarado's actions and confirm their new
positions. No further use of the flag is recorded.
Later on though, again
the Federal Government in Mexico City reneged on the agreement, and appointed
Carlos Antonio Carrillo, who was very popular among the southerners, as
Governor, on December 6, 1837. This time, civil war broke out and after
several battles, Carrillo was forced out. Mexico finally relented and
recognized Alvarado as Governor, having a tenure from 1837 until 1842.
Before Alvarado's coup there were also other attempts for an
independent California. Even
after Alvarado, recurrent tensions would lead to further revolts and
conflicts that finally
led to the Mexican–American War (also called "Intervención estadounidense en
México" (English: U.S. intervention in Mexico) and even the "Guerra
México-Americana" (English: Mexican-American War)) which ended with the
annexation of the present-day States of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona,
Wyoming (partially), Colorado, New Mexico and Texas."
Sources:
http://www.vom.com/bearflag/sobearfl.htm (currently down,
available only through
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.vom.com/bearflag/sobearfl.htm),
http://www.loeser.us/flags/california.html,
us-sutr.html#sutter,
us-ca-my.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Figueroa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Castro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Guadalupe_Vallejo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bautista_Alvarado
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Graham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Guti%C3%A9rrez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_Monterey,_California
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Chico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo
It is important to notice that "in U.S. history the
five-pointed star) appeared on flags
allegedly to symbolize the heavens. It was chosen because the founding
fathers believed no earthly king could control them. Vexillologically, it was
later incorporated into the concept of Manifest Destiny and we see examples
of the five-pointed star appearing in
West Florida, Texas, and in California. The five-pointed star
symbol migrated rather than evolving independently across U.S. history."
Source: http://www.loeser.us/flags/california_note_1.html
This picture is a photograph by
Mark R. Harrington, courtesy of the Braun Research Library Collection, Autry
National Center of the American West. P.13327 (official website:
https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives). Here's
another image of such flag:
https://www.kcet.org/sites/kl/files/atoms/article_atoms/www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/CT_570.jpg
(source:
https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/where-to-find-californias-oldest-flag-other-objects-in-socals-archives).
Esteban Rivera, 7 August 2018
