*** Source: Thompson, Robert A., Historical and descriptive sketch of Sonoma County, California. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1877, 122 pgs. Notice: This data is donated to the Public Domain by TAG, 2004, and may be copied freely by anyone to anywhere. *** ---page 15--- river, The company of men had elected one of their number, named Merritt, captain; they acted on their own responsibility, and committed no excess. They were not authorized to raise the American flag, and determined to make a flag on their own account. Three men,—-Ben Duell (now of Lake county), Todd and Currie,—-made the flag. Duell and Currie, as it happened, were both saddlers, and did the sewing; Todd painted the stripes and the bear. The material of which the stripes were made, was not, as has been stated, an old red-flannel petticoat, but was new flannel and white cotton, which Duell got from Mrs. W. B. Elliott, who had been brought to the town of Sonoma,-— her husband, W. B. Elliott, being one of the bear-flag party. Some blue domestic was found elsewhere, and used in making the flag; the drawing was rudely done, and, when finished, the bear,-—from which the flag and party took their name,-—resembled a pig as much as the object for which it was intended. The idea of the bear was, that having entered into the fight there was to be no back-down, or surrender, until the end in view was accomplished. We have this account of the making of the bear-flag from Mr. Duell, who was then a young man, and whose memory was perfect in the matter of which he spoke. A few days after the making of the flag, Cowey and Fowler were sent, or vol- unteered to go, to the Fitch ranch to get some powder from Mose Carson. They were waylaid and killed, and their bodies mutilated. An Indian gave the information; the bodies were found and buried where they lay, and their graves may still be seen on the Catron ranch, next to the county farm, about three miles from Santa Rosa. The graves are unmarked, and soon no trace of them will be seen,-—all but the names of these two daring pioneers will be lost forever. A man named Todd, while out looking for Fowler and Cowey, was captured by the Californians and taken to an Indian ranch called Olompali, about eight miles below Petaluma. They were pursued by a party of twenty-three bear- flag men, under command of Granville Swift and Sam Kelsey. A fight ensued at Olompali, in which seventy-three mounted Californians were forced to retreat, leaving their prisoner Todd, who was rescued. Frank Bedwell was in this fight; a number of the Californians were killed, but none of the Americans. Having recovered Todd, the object of their search, the scouting party returned to Sonoma. A few days after, Fremont arrived in Sonoma and fitted out an expedition to pursue the Californians. He took command and marched to San Rafael, meet- ing no resistance; the enemy had crossed over to the San Francisco side of the bay. Arriving at San Rafael, two men, non-combatants,-—the Hanro [de Haro] brothers,—-were captured and shot by Fremont’s orders. All the old bear-flag men, without exception, condemn the killing of these men as cruel and unnec- essary; no resistance whatever having been made to the Americans, and the two men killed were on a visit to their parents from another part of the country. The latter days of June and the first days of July, 1846, were destined to become eventful in the history of California. While the events described were occurring on the frontier;--as the Californians called Sonoma county,-- Commodore Sloat was enacting another important part in the work of conquest at *** end ***