For those not familiar with the Bear Flag Revolt which occurred in June of 1846 at Sonoma when American and other settlers took that town from General Val­lejo and the Mexicans...it was the opening of the Mexican War in California. The Mexican authorities had told the settlers in April that they would have to leave as soon as the snows melted, without their ripening wheat, their cattle and horses, and their arms. The Bear Flag Revolt is controversial, and the Bears are oft-times por­trayed as entirely an unsavory bunch of drunks and need-do-wells. This is not the case. Just about everyone in Northern California was involved who was at risk because he/she was an American or English. Their sense of justice and honor was at stake as well as their lives. They had not found justice in California. Americans had been attacked without recourse.