On July 31, 1846, Samuel Brannan arrived in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) aboard the ship the Brooklyn. Brannan, a 26-year-old elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, brought over 200 Mormon voyagers to California looking for a place for freedom of worship. The Brooklyn left New York on February 4, 1846, traveled around Cape Horn (the southern tip of South America), and stopped at Hawaii before arriving in California. By the mid-1800s, Hawaii was a major international trading hub and most ships stopped at Hawaii before sailing to California. In June 1846, while in Hawaii, Sam Brannan met with Commodore Robert Stockton and learned of the U.S. Navy’s plans to seize Monterey, the capital of Mexican California. Brannan hoped that when his group of immigrants arrived at Yerba Buena, they would be the ones to capture the small port town. When they arrived on July 31, much to Brannan’s dismay, the U.S. flag was already flying over the presidio. Sam Brannan brought with ...