From Father Font's Diary, Sunday, October 22, 1775 (Campsite 14)
"I said Mass for the success of the journey of the expedition, all the people attending, and Father Garcés assisted because in the presidio there were no other singers. After the gospel I made a talk or brief sermon suitable to the purpose... I reminded them of the punishment which God might mete out to them if they mistreated the heathen on the way or scandalized them by their conduct...all the people of the expedition being assembled and everything necessary being arranged, it was decided to continue the journey next day [October 23 at eleven o'clock in the morning]...

	Franciscan priest Father Pedro Font, diarist and Chaplain of the 1775-1776 Anza Expedition.
	Graphic: David Rickman

I may note that the order observed on the march during the whole journey was as follows: ...As soon as the pack trains were ready to start, the commander would say, 'Everybody mount.' Thereupon we all mounted our horses and at once the march began, forming a train in this fashion: Ahead went four soldiers, as scouts to show the road. Leading the vanguard went the commander, and then I came. Behind me followed the people, men, women, and children, and the soldiers who went escorting and caring for their families. The lieutenant with the rear guard concluded the train. Behind him the pack mules usually followed; after them came the loose riding horses and mules; and finally all the cattle, so that altogether they made up a very long procession...

Then, we began to march, I intoned the Alabado, to which all the people responded; and this was done every day both going and coming. When the campsite was reached, after all the people had dismounted the lieutenant came to report to the commander whether everything had arrived, or if something had remained behind, in order that he might give suitable orders. At night the people said the Rosary in their tents by families, and afterward they sang the Alabado, the Salve, or something else, each one in its own way, and the result was a pleasing variety."

From Anza's Diary - First page
"Diary of the march and explorations which I, the undersigned lieutenant colonel and captain of the Royal presidio of Tubac in the province and government of Sonora , am making a second time from the foregoing province to northern California. By order of the most excellent Señor Baylio Frey Don Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, Viceroy, Governor, and Captain-General of New Spain, as is shown by his superior decree of the 24th of November of the past year of 1774, for the purpose of escorting thirty soldiers with their commander and sergeant to the California named, for the reinforcement of the Royal Presidio of San Carlos de Monte Rey, and for the establishment of the port of San Francisco, all married and all recruited in the province named, and whose women and children and other dependents are set forth more at length below, together with the total number of those going upon this expedition..."

What's in a name? Anza wrote his name with a rubric, that dramatic squiggle at the end of the last letter. A personal rubric served to identify the writer, and to prevent forgery of a signature.

A clean-shaven Anza ready for the frontier.
Graphic: David Rickman

Don Juan Bautista de Anza was 39 years old when the 1775-76 colonizing expedition left for California. He was born in Fronteras in Sonora, New Spain, in 1736. His father, also named Juan Bautista, was the commander of the Presidio at Fronteras; he was killed in a battle with the Apache Indians there when Juan was three or four years old.

In 1751, during the Pima (Akimel O'odham) rebellion, he joined the volunteer soldiers. By the time he was 19, he was lieutenant at the Presidio in Fronteras. When his commander died suddenly in 1759, he became the Captain at Tubac. He married Ana María Pérez Serrano in 1771. Anza was asked to defend the royal settlements and presidios against the Apache and Seri Indians until 1773, and he carried out his duty with honor and distinction. In 1774, he asked permission to prove that a land route from Tubac to Monterey in Alta California was possible. The Viceroy of New Spain, Don Antonio Bucareli, granted him this assignment. Anza's father had made the same request many years before, but died before he could do so. With the help of American Indians, the younger Anza succeeded in carrying out his father's dream.

	One of several unsubstantiated portraits of Juan Bautista de Anza.
	Image: Bolton

First of all, there was Sebastián Tarabal, an American Indian and a native of Baja California, who had accompanied Gaspar de Portolá during his California expedition from Baja California. Sebastián had recently crossed the torturous desert from Mission San Gabriel (now near Los Angeles) to Northern Sonora. He was Anza's guide through the desert on the first expedition (1774). In addition, Anza befriended Chief Salvador Palma of the Quechan tribe (called the Yuma Indians during Anza's time), knowing that having the peaceful cooperation of his tribe was essential during crossing of the Colorado River near their villages. Anza and his 34 men succeeded at reaching San Gabriel and Monterey, then the most northern outpost of the Spanish Empire. Anza's first expedition to California was a success.

When Anza returned to Sonora (now in Mexico), he was rewarded and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. In 1775, he was given orders to recruit soldiers with families, and to escort them to Alta California so that they could establish a colony at the port of San Francisco. In spring of 1775, he began recruiting and enlisting soldiers with families starting in the town of Culiacán (in Sinaloa), and swept northward on his campaign. He must have made a convincing argument, since he could offer them only an immediate salary as well as food, clothing, and transportation to a land that was wilderness and a great unknown.

Anza was away on two trips to Alta California; his wife remained in Tubac. Anza would be away for about eight months during the 1775-76 colonizing expedition serving his king, Carlos III of Spain.

Graphic: Wade Cox

Equipping the Colonists from Hair Ribbons to Shoes

The Anza expedition had to carry the supplies needed to keep the group safe, fed, and healthy. Almost all of it was carried by mules. Don José de Echeveste drew up a detailed list of estimated costs for Anza's 1775-1776 expedition on December 5, 1774. He calculated it in the money of the time, Spanish pesos and reales, eight reales being worth one peso; 45 1/2 reales was equivalent to about one (1998) U.S. dollar.

The colonists were provided for from head to toe. Clothing for the men consisted of: 3 good linen shirts, 3 pairs of underdrawers of Puebla cloth, 2 cloth jackets with lining and trimming, 2 pairs of breeches (trousers), 2 pairs of stockings, 2 pairs of buckskin boots, 3 pairs of buttoned shoes, 1 cloth cape lined with thick baize (flannel), 1 hat, 2 blankets, and ribbon for the hat and their hair. Don José estimated a cost of 42 pesos and 1 real for each man, and in addition, a typical soldier was to be paid one peso daily.

Graphic: David Rickman

Graphic: Bill Singleton

The wardrobe for each woman cost 6 reales less than the man's. Women were given 3 chemises (shirts), 3 pairs of white puebla cotton petticoats, 1 baize and 1 serge skirt and an underskirt, linen for 2 jackets, 2 pairs of Brussels stockings, 2 pairs of hose and shoes, 2 rebozos (at 12 reales each), a hat and 6 varas of ribbon to trim it all up. Children's clothing would have been homemade; materials provided included bolts of cloth, ribbon, fine rope, and shoes of all sizes for both sexes.

Food rations included cattle (one for each day), 30 loads of flour for tortillas, pinole, kidney beans, 6 cases of ordinary chocolate, white sugar, soap, and 3 barrels of aguardiente (brandy) for "needs that arise." As it turned out, this would be used for the expedition's fandangos. For cooking, there were 8 iron pans, 10 copper campaign kettles, and 12 large chocolate-pots.

Military supplies included a flag with the royal coat of arms, 11 tents of unbleached canvas, 20 carbines (rifles), 10 ball cartridges, 40 leather flasks for gun powder, swords and lances, 22 leather jackets, plus gear for the horses and pack mules. Tools included 4 Biscayan hatchets with a steel edge, 4 spades, 4 shovels, a crow-bar, 1 tool chest. There were also 2 blank books for military registers and the diaries. Without these we would know much less about the expedition. Thanks to the diaries, we can read about the daily trials of the expedition over 225 years after they made their journey.

And let's not forget that there were gifts for the American Indians that Anza would meet along the way, including 6 boxes of beads. A blue cloth cloak, a jacket and buckskin beeches were given to the the chief of the Quechan tribe at Yuma (Salvador Palma). When all was accounted for, the expedition cost less than $500 U.S. dollars. That's a pretty good investment on the part of the Spanish government to secure the claim it had to California and the west.