Juan Bautista de Anza still rides in San Francisco
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By Miguel Pérez
August 8, 2025 – He is not at the Spanish Presidio he established back in 1776, but Captain Juan Bautista de Anza still rides in San Francisco. And he does it with a lot of poise and grace. His very impressive equestrian statue, on the north shore of Lake Merced, on the southwest corner of the San Francisco peninsula, was a gift from the Mexican town of his birth to the American town he established. "As a high tribute to an illustrious historical figure born in Sonora, founder of the City of San Francisco, and with the purpose of strengthening the friendly ties between the peoples of Mexico and the United States," the State of Sonora, Mexico, presented this monument to the City of San Francisco in August of 1967. In 1776, while the east coast of the current United States was declaring independence from Britain, de Anza, by decree of Carlos III of Spain, led an expedition to colonize the San Francisco Bay area for Spain. |
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He established El Presidio de San Francisco, now a park and museum where you learn that he "recruited men from Sinaloa and Sonora, areas where mines were closing and Apache raids were violent. The recruits were a diverse group: españoles, indios, mestizos, and mulatos. Anza led these soldiers, along with their wives and children on an epic 1,500-mile journey to the San Francisco Bay area."
As a Spanish army captain at the colonial frontier presidio in Tubac, in present-day Arizona, de Anza requested the Spanish crown’s permission to find and establish an overland route to some Spanish missions and military outposts that were already functioning in Alta California but depended on insufficient sea routes for supplies. |
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In 1774, he went on an exploratory journey across the desert between Tubac and California to make sure that it could be done by a large expedition of colonists with enough supplies and livestock to build a new town. And he was successful in reaching California with the help of a native guide and following established native trails, a feat that earned him the task of leading a group of settlers not only west to California, but all the way north to San Francisco Bay! (See map).
But mind you, these new settlers were not readily available. He had to recruit them! In fact, with Spain's financial support, he had to gather enough livestock and supplies to maintain a huge number of people as they traveled across barren deserts. He had to build a moving town! |
De Anza's route from Sinaloa and Culiacán to San Francisco
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In 1775 he traveled much further south into already colonized and ethnically integrated New Spain towns in present-day Mexico, where he convinced some 30 families to join him.
If they were looking for a better life and willing to relocate, the men could join the expedition as paid soldiers. But they were required to bring their families on the dangerous journey, because they would not be returning. |
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Nevertheless, some 200 settlers left Tubac on Oct. 23, 1775, and arrived in San Francisco on June 27, 1776 – an 8-month journey. Eight women were pregnant when they started the trip. One of them died while giving birth on the rough trail. She was the expedition’s only fatality.
Once in California and heading north to San Francisco Bay, they stopped to rest at some Spanish missions that even today display plaques marking his visit as a historic event. In fact, there are road signs marking the entire trail. (See photos). When they arrived at the mouth of San Francisco Bay, now overpassed by the Golden Gate Bridge, they reportedly erected a wooden cross to give thanks for completing their journey. Mind you, this was seven years after another Spanish expedition, led by Gaspar de Portolá had discovered San Francisco Bay. |
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In 1990, Congress officially recognized the "Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail," encompassing the 1,200 miles of the expedition that covered present U.S. territory, from Nogales, Az. to San Francisco.
A National Park Service pamphlet about the National Trail, distributed at the San Francisco Presidio, notes that descendants of those colonists still commemorate their heritage along the Anza Trail. “The Anza Trail tells the complex story of migration and colonization, family and community, and our country’s Native and Latino heritage,” the pamphlet says. Yet, in trying remain neutral on controversial issues, I find that government agencies, just like history museums, often try so hard to present both sides of every story that sometimes they come across as contradictory. |
National Park Service pamphlet on Juan Bautista de Anza and his expedition trail.
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“In the newly occupied land, many of the colonists and their descendants obtained the better livelihoods Anza had promised, yet at the expense of Indigenous peoples,” the pamphlet says. It notes that colonization “decimated” Indigenous populations, “disrupted Native traditions and changed the landscape.”
But it also notes that "Anza ordered his expedition soldiers not to harm people in indigenous communities along the route, and he forged alliances with several tribes," receiving food from the Natives and even assistance in crossing the Colorado River. In spite of charging that they were “decimated,” the pamphlet also notes that “the tribal communities whose lands Anza traveled through – Quechan, Ohlone, O’odham, Tongva, and many more – continue to thrive and pass on their traditions.” What? Which is it? Since they were teaching the natives much more advanced ways of living, and even saving their souls, the pamphlet says “Many Spanish believed they were serving in the Native communities’ best interests.” I say many still do, and they are both Hispanic and Native Americans. |
Image of the De Anza expedition from the San Francisco Presidio Officer's Club Museum
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