When circumstances shaped themselves for the worst, a party of Americans at Sonoma headed by Captain Ezekiel Merritt gave the first signal of uprising which led to the establishment of the Bear Flag Republic of California. These men applied to Captain Fremont for help, but as Fremont was an officer in the United States army, he could not personally take a hand in the affair without authority from the United States Government, but left his men free to join Captain Merritt's ranks, and many did so. Under Captain Merritt the Americans captured horses and arms from a Mexican regiment on the march for Sonoma, also the garrison of Sonoma; encouraged by this William B. Ide, one of Merritt's chief advisers and successor issued a Proclamation which launched the Bear Flag Republic into its existence of twenty-four days. This Proclamation was a praiseworthy document, stating the grievances of the American settlers, namely unfriendliness and threats of expulsion, also declaring the justice of overthrowing a government which had confiscated mission property calling upon the assistance of peace-loving citizens of California and promising not to molest persons who had not taken up arms. The Bear Flag of the Republic of California was then designed by a Mr. William Todd and hoisted in Sonoma on June 14, 1846, also in Monterey. The American flag could not be hoisted because the actions of this party of Americans had virtually been unauthorized, and they would have been responsible to the United States for so doing, however, it was their intention to turn over their conquests to the United States as soon as possible. But the Mexican military authorities regarded the actions of these Americans as a gross hostility, and from all sides prepared to attack them. The position of this plucky little band now became very perilous, and again they laid their cause and dangers before Fremont, who was in his camp on the American River. Now the Captain did not hesitate in his decision and with a small mounted force began action on the field. Fremont was a man of many commendable qualities, possessed of bright mentality, unwavering and extremely loyal to the American cause, but he had his failings, among them being that on several occasions he took advantage of the tangled state of affairs, to seize upon personal property considered without the range of his lawful power to take, hence the dislike that exists for him among many old California residents; still it was the "Pathfinder" as he was called, who with Commodore Robert Stockton, Lieutenant Archibald Giliespie in command at Los Angeles, General Stephen Kearny and some others fought the brief battles which terminated in the raising of the American flag at the Custom House of Monterey on July 7, 1846, thus was California admitted into the Union as a territory. By a treaty of peace which followed the Mexican War, California was ceded to the United States for the sum of $15,000,000 in 1848.