Mexico's Comandante of Northern California, General Vallejo, commissioned this adobe barracks to house his troops in 1834 – but it became the capital of a rogue nation on June 9,1846, when American settlers of varying sobriety surprised guards and declared an independent "California Republc" [sic] with a homemade flag featuring a blotchy bear. US troops soon took over the barracks, but left during the gold rush – so Vallejo turned it into a winery. Today, displays here capture Sonoma's Wild West days.
The US took over a month later, but abandoned the barracks during the gold rush, leaving Vallejo to turn them into (what else?) a winery in 1860.
