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Original
diary of Father Pedro Font of the Juan Bautista de Anza Colonizing Expedition
(September 29, 1775 to June 2, 1776), beginning at the Royal Presidio
of San Miguel de Horcasitas in northern Sonora and ending at the Royal
Presidio of San Carlos de Monterey in Alta California. The diary also
chronicles the exploratory expedition made by Lieutenant Colonel Anza,
Padre Font, and eighteen soldiers from Monterey to the opening of the
San Francisco Bay, around the East Bay to the Sacramento River Delta,
and back to Monterey. It also details events on the return trip from Monterey
to Horcasitas. Father Font was the expedition chaplain and was also responsible
for taking latitudes along the way. This diary is an abbreviated version
of his later diary. It was compiled in a hurry so that it could reach
the Viceroy as soon as, or before, Anza's diary. The purpose of this journal,
which he compiled from his notes at Ures, Sonora upon their return from
California, was to make an official, preliminary report to his superior,
Father Guardian Romualdo Cartagena and, ultimately, to the Viceroy of
New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursua, and the King of Spain,
Charles III. This edition is based upon Frederick J. Teggert's translation
of the diary in The Anza Expedition of 1775-1776; Diary of Pedro Font,
Vol. III, 1913.
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Introduction
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9/29/1775
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With some difficulty
the Expedition gets under way from Horcasitas
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10/23/1775
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Manuela Piñuelas
dies in childbirth at La Canoa the first evening out of Tubac
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11/19/1775
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Ana María
de Osuna gives birth to a healthy son in a camp on the Gila River
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11/30/1775
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The Yuma Indians
help the Expedition to cross the frigid waters of the Colorado River
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12/17/1775
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Three separate
groups who have been traveling through the snow are reunited today
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12/25/1775
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Gertrudis Rivas
gives birth to a healthy son at camp in Coyote Canyon the night
before
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2/21/1776
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After much delay,
a desertion, and a side trip to San Diego to help quell an Indian
uprising, the Expedition continues north from San Gabriel
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3/10/1776
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With great satisfaction
the colonizers arrive at Monterey, the earliest recruits having
been traveling for just fifteen days short of a year
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3/28/1776
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Anza, Font,
Moraga, and seventeen soldiers stand at the mouth of San Francisco
Bay, the first people of European heritage to have seen it
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4/14/1776
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Anza, Font,
and twenty-seven others returning to Sonora bid farewell at Monterey
to the California colonists
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Diary
of Pedro Font
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