Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, an ambitious and well-educated Californio, founded the town of Sonoma in 1834. From 1835 to 1842, General Vallejo held a number of political and military appointments from successive governments in Mexico and was instrumental in securing peace between the region's native peoples and European immigrants. On June 14, 1846, during the Bear Flag Revolt, a mob of settlers took Vallejo prisoner, but instead of resisting, he welcomed the rebels into his quarters for a meal and drinks. After a short negotiation, he signed a letter of surrender, and the Bear Flag Republic was born. The republic lasted less than 26 days before California was annexed by the United States and became a state in 1850. Vallejo also contributed to early viticulture, planting a few hundred vines behind his adobe residence on what is now Sonoma Plaza, building the mansion Lachryma Montis nearby with a larger vineyard, and in 1840 enabling the first vineyard in what became the Santa Rosa area by granting Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa to his widowed mother-in-law Maria Lopez Carillo. Vallejo became close to The Count, and two of his daughters, Natalia Veneranda Vallejo and Jovita Francisca Vallejo, later married Attila and Arpad Haraszthy.