Few people have heard about the 1775-1776 Anza expedition from Mexico to California. Maybe because it happened at the same time as another important event: the American Revolution. But the Spanish colonization of California, seventy years before pioneers from the east crossed the Rockies, also helped shape the future of the United States.
By 1775, Spain had quite an empire in the New World. Most of the people of New Spain lived in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The empire also had settlements in present-day Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and a few missions and presidios (military posts) in California.
A small number of soldiers and Franciscan priests lived in the presidios and missions. Many times they faced starvation as they waited for supply ships to make the slow journey up the coast from Mexico. Fighting treacherous waters and heavy winds, the ships were often lost at sea or destroyed against rocky cliffs.
Because of this difficulty in getting supplies to the soldiers and priests, and to bring more colonists to California, Spanish rulers wished to discover an overland route from Mexico to California. In 1774, King Carlos III authorized Captain Juan Bautista de Anza to lead an expedition in the hopes of finding this route. After a three-month journey, Anza arrived in San Gabriel, having discovered a safe passage across the desert and over the mountains to California.
With this success, the king ordered Anza to lead another expedition, this time bringing with him colonists and the supplies they would need to start lives in the new territory. Most of the colonists who signed on for the journey were poor. They hoped for a better life in California and were enticed by the new clothes, arms, household goods, and horses given to them by order of the Spanish king.
Lieutenant Luis Joaquin Moraga and Sergeant Juan Pablo Grijalba assisted Captain Anza. Three priests also accompanied the expedition. Father Pedro Font recorded the latitudes in his diary, adding descriptions of the Indians, weather, land, and more. Fathers Antonio Garcés and Tomás Eixarch traveled only as far as the Colorado River where they stayed to teach the Yuma Indians Christianity. Father Garcés and Captain Anza also kept diaries of the journey.
Thirteen muleteers packed and unpacked the mules at each campsite. Three vaqueros kept the herd of cattle together. Anza and each of the priests had servants. Three Indian interpreters helped communicate with the Pimas, Yumas, and other tribes.
In all, there were 240 people (including 115 children ranging in age from infant to eighteen), 695 horses and mules, and 355 head of cattle. The expedition left Horcasitas, Mexico—where most of the colonists had joined—on September 29, 1775. After traveling for three weeks, they stopped at Tubac, the presidio Anza commanded. There, more colonists signed on, and the expedition left again on October 23, 1775. The journey from Horcasitas to San Francisco would cover almost 2000 miles.
The colonists survived extreme conditions and hardship along the trail: death, births, heat, dust storms, wind, rain, snow, dying animals, and limited supplies. Still, life continued. Three couples were married. Eight women gave birth, although only three of the babies lived and one woman died in childbirth. For such a grueling journey, it’s a tribute to the colonists’ strength and determination that these were the only deaths.
The expedition arrived at the San Gabriel mission in California on January 4, 1776. Some of the colonists settled there, while others continued on to settle in Monterey and, in June 1776, the final destination of San Francisco, nine months after leaving Horcasitas.