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Social Studies Fact Cards
SOCIAL STUDIES FACT CARDS CALIFORNIA HISTORY BY
DECADES
Copyright © by Toucan Valley Publications, Inc. | Source Citation 1840s
Bidwell­Bartleson party became first organized group of
American settlers to travel to California by land
The early 1840s brought the first large overland party of Americans
from the Midwest to California. American trappers had previously
come to California in small groups, but had not settled. In 1840 a 20­
year­old schoolteacher named John Bidwell helped to organize the
Western Emigration Society in Missouri. He had heard tales from
trappers of how warm and inviting the climate of California was, and
he gathered together people who wanted to go there.
Some 69 Americans left Missouri in May 1841, bound for California.
Among them were settlers, adventurers, missionaries, and families, a
mixed group of people traveling for different purposes but all intent
on reaching California. They selected John Bartleson as their captain,
but he soon became known for his mistakes and poor leadership.
John Bidwell took over the command during key moments, and the
party arrived in California at the ranch of John Marsh near Mt. Diablo
on November 4, 1841. They were destitute and hungry from the six­
month journey, barely getting through the Sierra Nevada Mountains
before the heavy snows. Bidwell found a job at Sutter’s Fort, and
later became a leader among early California pioneers.
"Bear Flag" revolt led to breakdown of Mexican authority in
California
The 1840s saw the end of Mexican control over California, a process
that started with the "Bear Flag" revolt of 1846. Knowing that U.S.
President James Polk was interested in acquiring California, U.S.
Army Captain John Frémont set up camp in the Sacramento Valley
north of Sutter’s Fort. Some American settlers who got wind of the
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news began to rally together. On June 10 they launched a revolt
against Mexican authority by stealing a herd of horses; on June 14
they captured General Vallejo, commander of Mexican forces in
Northern California.
They became known as the Bear Flaggers because they raised a flag
with a grizzly bear and one star on a field of white, bordered at the
bottom by a red stripe, as the standard of the "California Republic,"
with William B. Ide as president of the republic. They fought only one
battle, the Battle of Olompali, in which two Californians were killed.
Captain Frémont then announced his support of the revolt. By this
time, the U.S. was at war with Mexico. American ships arrived at
Monterey on July 7 and the American flag was raised. The Bear Flag
Republic was at an end.
Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill and the gold rush
started
In 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in Coloma. Thus
began the great gold rush of 1849, from which the term "Forty­Niner"
comes. Marshall was a young wagon builder from New Jersey who
came overland to work in a sawmill. On January 24, 1848, while
inspecting the tailrace of the mill, he saw a piece of metal shining in
the water. Once he picked it out and realized that it was soft, he
knew he had found gold. Over the next day he collected three ounces
of gold, which he showed to his employer, John Sutter.
They tried to keep the secret, but word soon spread. By June of 1848
almost no men remained in Monterey, San Francisco, San Jose, or
Santa Cruz. Everyone wanted to find gold. Soldiers deserted, as did
their reinforcements; seamen left their ships lying in the harbors;
farmers and merchants abandoned their trades and left for the hills.
Eventually the stream of people would increase the population of
California from 15,000 to 92,597 by 1850, and 379,994 by 1860. The
migration was the largest in the western world since the Crusades,
drawing people not only from North America but from around the
world. Shanty­towns sprang up throughout the hills, and some
miners averaged over $50 a day prospecting.
Mexico gave California to the United States by the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo
In February of 1848, Mexico ceded Alta (Upper) California to the
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United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico and the
U.S. had been at war primarily over control of Texas, but there were
already Americans in California who were revolting. President Polk,
who wanted to annex California, sent 350 men by ship and 300 more
overland from Santa Fe to accomplish the task. General Castro and
Governor Píco, leaders of the Mexican forces there, retreated in the
face of such opposition, and the Americans took Los Angeles and San
Francisco. However, the Mexican settlers put up a more spirited
resistance. They forced the Americans out of Los Angeles and fought
skirmishes with them until the battles of San Gabriel and La Mesa, on
January 8 and 9, 1848. Here the Mexicans were decisively defeated,
and they surrendered.
In the Mexican town of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, the
U.S. and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, giving the
U.S. control over most of California but returning Baja (Lower)
California, which was not heavily populated by Americans, to Mexico.
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