January 15, 1861 (Tuesday)

Another symbol of secession:
Pacific Republic

Here is an account from California....

"Historical accounts are strangely silent who raised it.  But at some point during that day ---- January 16, 1861 ---- citizens looked up to see it waving from the masthead...according to the next morning's edition of the Stockton Argus, the silk banner depicted a 'huge grizzly bear' standing amid a 'wild mountain scene.'  In one corner was a single white star on a blue background -- similar to many of the secession flags back east.  Across the top were the words, 'PACIFIC REPUBLIC.'  The symbol of the bear was not new to California politics, it had been used before in its struggle for independence with Mexico. 

When California declared her independence, Jefferson Davis, who argued in the Senate that slavery was part of California's natural destiny, said: 'It was to work the gold mines on this continent that the Spaniards first brought Africans to the country.  The European races now engaged in working the mines of California sink under the burning heat and sudden changes of climate, to which the African race are altogether better adapted.'

California's political leadership on the eve of the Civil War was still dominated by Southern sympathizers -- voters called them the Chivalry faction, or the Chivs.  No Northern state had more draconian laws restricting the lives and rights of its black inhabitants.  A year earlier violence had broken out and a state senator, David Broderick was slain in a pistol duel with state Supreme Court Justice David Terry.  Broderick's dying words were reputed to have been: 'They killed me because I was opposed to the extension of slavery and the corruption of justice.'

Many Californians reasoned -- should it not be its own nation?  Let the old states fight their old battles; In early 1861, -- with the word 'pacific' taking on a newly ironic double meaning -- the moment for the Pacific Republic seemed to have arrived.   It was argued that California should secede -- taking the opportunity to seize for themselves 'our vast resources.'   A congressman,  Rep. Charles L. Scott , said: 'Let us set up for ourselves, and in a half century we will indeed have a grand, glorious, and mighty Republic, founded upon the sad experience of the past, but which will endure until time is no more.'

The flag did not stay on the flagpole for long.  It was cut down mysteriously and a new flag in its place:  a bear against a backdrop of California mountains with an enormous eagle hovering above, with talons outstretched -- and the terrified bruin scampering toward a patch of chaparral."  (The Bear Wars, by Adam Goodheart, Disunion, New York Times, January 14, 1861)