- John B. Montgomery
John Berrien Montgomery (1794 –
25 March 1872 ) was an officer in theUnited States Navy who served during theMexican-American War and theAmerican Civil War .Born in
Allentown, New Jersey , Montgomery entered the Navy in 1812. His commands included "USS Portsmouth" in 1844 and "USS Roanoke" in 1857. He served as Commandant of theBoston Navy Yard from June 1862 to December 1863, and then of theWashington Navy Yard in 1865.In early June 1846, Montgomery and the ship he commanded, the "Portsmouth", arrived in San Francisco Bay, then part of the Mexican province of Alta California. As a result Montgomery was involved, albeit as a witness only, in the events of the Bear Flag Revolt in which foreign residents, mostly American revolted against the Mexican authorities. As a naval representative of the U. S. Government, he was approached by representatives of the Revolt, by representatives of the Mexican provincial government and by other representatives of the U. S. On June 16, 1846, Montgomery sent a mission to Sonoma to investigate the conditions there, following the Revolt.
On
July 9 ,1846 , Montgomery and his detachment from the "Portsmouth" raised the American flag over the plaza in the town of Yerba Buena, whose name was changed toSan Francisco, California in 1847. At his direction, Lt. Joseph Revere also lowered California's famous Bear Flag flying at Sonoma, north of San Francisco Bay and raised the U.S. Flag. The lowered Bear Flag ended up in Montgomery's possession and in 1848, he delivered it to Naval authorities in Boston. Ultimately, in 1855, the flag was returned to California.In 1859, he commanded the
Pacific Squadron .He died at
Carlisle, Pennsylvania . His remains were interred atWashington, D.C. .Montgomery Street , a notable street in downtown San Francisco, is named for him [ [http://www.sfmuseum.net/street/stnames4.html San Francisco Streets Named for Pioneers: G-M] , accessedAugust 29 ,2006 ] .References
*Rogers, Fred Blackburn "Montgomery and the Portsmouth"(The Portsmouth Marine Society, 1990).External links
* [http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/20416/mcms.html Photo of Adm Montgomery]
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