Diary of Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bustista de Anza
August 15 to September 10, 1779
Diary of the expedition that is taking the field against the Comanche Tribe, commanded by the undersigned Lieutenant Colonel, Governor and Commander of New Mexico, with troops, militias, and Indians hereinafter described totaling 600 in all.
Sunday, August 15, 1779 SP -- On August 15, 1779 at three in the afternoon the march was started toward the north, and after six leagues on the Camino Real a stop was made to spend the night in the vicinity of Puxuaque.
Monday, August 16, 1779 SP -- 16th. Monday. At six-thirty we continued on our way toward the north-northwest for another six leagues and made a stop in the San Juan de los Caballeros woods. This stop was made in order to assemble the combatants, where I reviewed them all this afternoon. I found that the troops were provided with three horses for each soldier, with arms and the munitions of war and victuals for forty days. This was not true of the civilian auxiliaries and the Indians due to their exceptional poverty and misery, and the best equipped among them presented themselves with two horses, most of them almost useless, their muskets likewise, with three charges of powder, and the others in proportion. I provided the most needy with a good horse out of the two hundred I have as replacements from the Presidio's herd, and I provided all of them with a firearm and six cartridges with lead. I immediately provided for better order among the people accompanying the expedition, bearing in mind all that might occur in every circumstance, forming them into three divisions, each with its respective commander whom I briefed on the necessity of being prepared for anything that might happen. The march was resumed with my division in the van, the second under the command of the lieutenant took the rear guard, and the third, under the second lieutenant, took up the reserve position between the two. In late afternoon I sent two advance scouts to reconnoiter the enemy's means of ingress and egress under orders that should they find no sign of them nor anything worthy of attention to rejoin me by the 20th.
It should not seem strange if it is noted here that I direct this expedition in a different direction and over different territory from all those that have taken place annually up to the present time, in order to avoid what has happened so often in the past, that of being discovered long before arriving at country inhabited by the enemy, which I am informed is very common, and the cause of failure for most of the campaigns, causing them to end with no better result than territory penetrated, in order to obtain greater success for the enterprise.
Tuesday, August 17, 1779 SP -- A little after six, having crossed the Rio del Norte we continued by the indicated route toward north-northwest for seven leagues before arriving at the deserted pueblo of Ojo Caliente where we stopped for the night, winding up back on the Camino Real. This pueblo, one of those abandoned because of enemy hostilities, has been proposed as a place to establish a presidio, which is why I checked it out, but I find that it lacks all the dimensions and characteristics that such an establishment requires, which could only be supplied by those who have left it, who in total amounted to perhaps 25 or 30 families, dispersed over four square without any means of defense in their houses, and so it was as much the result of such disorderliness and their scanty labor as it was the enemy raids that brought upon the inhabitants the tragic loss of their possessions and dwelling places.
Wednesday, August 18, 1779 SP -- 18th. Wednesday. At seven we resumed our march toward the north for another eight leagues before arriving at the Río de las Nutrias where the day's journey ended.
Thursday, August 19, 1779 SP -- 19th. Thursday. A little before seven we continued on northward for seven leagues over the same kind of country to the Río San Antonio where we stopped for the night.
Friday, August 20, 1779 SP -- 20th. Friday. Today we experienced the chill of such icy cold as would have been appropriate to the winter months. At six-thirty we continued our march toward the north over uneven terrain that continued for seven leagues all the way to the Rio de los Conejos where we stopped for the night. Here the spies I sent out on the 16th rejoined us, having found no other sign of the enemy than the tracks in this same camping place of the last ones to enter this territory. Late that afternoon 200 men joined me, Yutas and Apaches, with four chiefs of the former, with supplications that since they were friends I should allow them to join me and since we were on a campaign against the Comanches I conceded to their request as much for that reason as to see whether we could civilize them, so that at least they could be useful against the same enemies as up to now. With this in mind I told them that if they placed themselves at my orders they would share in the spoils, if any, with exception of any personal prisoners, on an equal basis with my people, to which conditions they agreed and offered to abide by them.
Saturday, August 21, 1779 SP -- 21st. Saturday. At six o'clock we returned to our route toward the north-northeast over bad terrain and broken ground where after two leagues we crossed the Río Pino, after which we crossed three more before reaching the Río Jaras where the days journey ended.
Sunday, August 22, 1779 SP -- 22nd. Sunday. Since it was necessary that the next march take place at night so that the enemy would not see the dust raised by our troops and horses, from the mountain range not very far distant on our right that they cross, it would have to be tonight. With prayers for its success the march started toward the north, and after a league of travel the Río de los Timbres was crossed, and after that another six leagues in the same direction after which we arrived at the Río de San Lorenzo at two in the morning.
Monday, August 23, 1779 SP -- At nightfall we continued our march toward the north and traveled for fourleagues over reasonable terrain at the end of which we turned north-northeast for another two leagues where the march ended at the Río del Norte, near San Bartolomé Pass. This river, which is known to empty into the North Sea at the Bay of the Holy Spirit, has its source a little over 15 leagues from this stopping place in the Sierra de las Grullas, which is the same one along whose skirt we have traveled since the 17th, it being the one farthest west and closest to our route from the seat of my headquarters. The Yuta (Tabeguache) tribe that is accompanying us lives in the summertime near that river's source, and three civilians who have scouted it tell me that it starts from a spring-fed lake that is also replenished from melting snow on the nearby volcanic peaks. Those same informants tell me that after fifteen leagues the mountain opens up and there are seven rivers that in a very short distance flow together forming one of good size that flows toward the west. For that and for other reasons that I do not mention here I believe it is the one they call the Colorado River that, in confluence with the Gila, flows into the Gulf of California where the tribes that live along it, and with whom I have communicated during my travels there, gave me plausible news of the Yuta (Tabeguache) tribe, from which I infer that they are not very far apart. Those same civilians who scouted the seven rivers on orders of the Governor, Don Tom‡s Velez tell me it is a very fertile area, and they observe that in ancient times it was well populated by Indians, attested to by the size of the pueblos, three stories high, as well as other indications, including evidence that they mined silver, to which their waste dumps attest, and they found fragments of useful articles which they turned over to the Governor who, according to other informants, sent them to Mexico City.
Tuesday, August 24, 1779 SP -- 24th. Tuesday. Tonight we continued north and over good terrain made 4 leagues, then descended for 4 more toward north-northwest which brought us the next day to a beautiful marsh which we named the San Luis. From the beginning of our march, as mentioned before, we suffered cruelly from the cold, and to overcome it we indulged ourselves by building some fires, but since we discovered off to the east of us many signs of what we took to be enemies, we put them out, only to find that what we saw were the remains of campfires made a long while before, a deception that we did not discover before eight the next morning. On the 18th of July of this year a large number of Comanches attacked a larger number of Yutas at this place where they had located with their families, and although the former succeeded in taking all their horses under the cover of darkness, the latter came off with the advantage, having killed 12 of the thieves, one of them a chief, their bodies bearing better witness to the victory than did the account rendered by the victors.
Wednesday, August 25, 1779 SP -- 25th. Wednesday. At nightfall we resumed our march toward the northeast for one league, after which we went two more leagues toward the north-northwest then three more toward the northwest, coming to a creek that we named San Gines . Notwithstanding the fact that up to this place we had always marched using advance spies I have decided that from now on it will be done more carefully and farther ahead, in consequence of which 15 left today to reunite on the 29th.
Thursday, August 26, 1779 SP -- 26th. Thursday. At four in the afternoon we continued toward the northeast for 4 leagues , at the end of which we stopped for the night, waiting for tomorrow to cross the difficult terrain ahead, since this place was the water hole of the Yutas. From the time we left the San Luis Marsh until the last water hole the mountains seemed to be closing in and turn us right and left, and among them flows the Río del Norte whose waters flow from this place toward the northwest to a destination unknown.
Friday, August 27, 1779 SP -- 27th. Friday. At seven we continued our march by way of a very narrow canyon with almost unscalable walls, the first one with plenty of water that runs in a generally northeast direction which is all that separates the two aforementioned mountains. The one that is rarely traveled cost us a lot of effort to cross, which we managed to do after walking 5 leagues, at the end of which we came to the confluence of the water referred to with that of a considerable river that we called the San August where we finished the day's march.
Saturday, August 28, 1779 SP -- 28th. Saturday. A little before seven we started out toward the northeast and in little more than a league we crossed the Río Nepestle which flows from the northwest and has its source in the aforementioned mountain range . After one league we started to cross another medium mountain range which cost us two more, and after that we went four more to the east along some low hills where from two in the afternoon until seven we rested the horses, after which we continued in our predetermined direction for 5 more and came to what we called the Lost Hills for all the trouble we had from the snow and fog that bothered us before nightfall.
Sunday, August 29, 1779 SP -- 29th. Sunday. At eight, although the bad weather continued, we resumed our march toward the east, and over good terrain we made four leagues before we made a halt at a nice creek, as much to refresh the horses as to give the people of the expedition time to rest and to eat the meat of 50 buffalo that in less than ten minutes they managed to kill during the march out of a much greater number which we encountered. A little before twelve the spies we mentioned on the 26th rejoined us, and since they encountered nothing noteworthy we sent out 20 who are to rejoin us on the 31st if they don't run into anything worth reporting. After sending out the spies at about six in the evening we returned to our route going east-southeast and made six leagues over good terrain and small streams before ending the march well into the night at the foot of some little hills called Ojos Ciegos .
Monday, August 30, 1779 SP -- 30th. Monday. A little after seven we headed east across the Sierra del Almagre . It is rough going due to its breaks and thick forests, so after eight leagues , still on the same mountain, we stopped for the night at the head of a river that I called the Santa Rosa to await the report of the spies who are due tomorrow. Since these heights overlook those customarily inhabited by the enemy I divided our people into three equal observation parties and briefed them on what might occur on the following day.
Tuesday, August 31, 1779 SP -- 31st. Tuesday. At half past ten one of those spies told us that to the east of where we were camped they saw a lot of dust about three leagues distant, and so they traveled two leagues on the same road to let us know. For that reason, I alerted our entire train to be ready to march should it become necessary. After eleven two more of the spies arrived, sent by their leader, with news that the dust was made by a considerable number of the enemy, who were about a league and a half from our observers. They advised me to go to that observation post, which was still hidden, in order to be closer to the observers. He was afraid they would come across his tracks, aware that where they were now he had been that morning. On receiving that news I resolved to move to the proposed spot as being a better one. However, in order to move more quickly than would be possible with the entire expedition, including horses and packs, I left a rear guard of 200 men, to whose commander I communicated the orders that I deemed necessary, that he should follow me should he observe an attack, but that otherwise he was to remain out of sight where he was. When I arrived at the site the leader of the spies told me he thought the enemy had discovered his tracks, because since they stopped they had pitched only six tents, four of them very near where he had been, and as the spies advanced a little closer they observed that they had struck their tents and gathered their horses, which he judged was for escape. Persuaded by all the foregoing, with greater anticipation I resolved to attack, right, left and center, because of the day and the plain on which the barbarians were located, to leave them no avenue of escape from our front, which was the same sort of terrain as that over which they had come. More than half a league short of their camp, at 12 o'clock, it was inevitable that they would discover us. The had their horses saddled and ready to march, including their herd of extra horses, but they did not do as they usually did, come out to encounter the troop, because they observed them formed up in a way they had never seen. And so they all mounted up, even the women and children and took precipitous flight in spite of the fact that they comprised the families of more than 120 tents, whose wooden arms only were ready. Taking no account of that, they were followed, conserving all the order possible, after three quarters of a league we caught up to the men in a running combat that lasted for about another league during which we managed to kill 18 of the strongest and wounded many more, and it was necessary to do the former to more than thirty women and children who ran right along with their parents. We made prisoners of 34 of the latter and all the horses they were driving, which amounted to 500 head of those who did not escape. Those who did lost all their goods and equipment; even the most useful were abandoned where they camped. They were of such quantity that they could not be carried on a hundred horses. Our people divided the spoils equally without the least bit of trouble. The number of the enemies we fought cannot be arrived at with any certainty, because since the men dress the same as the women with whom they were fleeing, and the horses they were trying to get away with raised so much dust it was impossible to count them, especially when the killing started, because they scattered all over, leaving us no other way of calculating their numbers than that of counting the tents that they were about to pitch, which are said to number more than 120. It is well known that six to eight warriors inhabit each. At half past four I returned to the water-hole and pasturage where I could gather all of my people, which was accomplished by sundown, three leagues from where the vanquished had camped. We called that place the Río Sacramento , since we had dedicated this expedition to that holy and mysterious saint. Despite the fact that from the time the very first prisoners were taken I began to question them about the rest of their rancherias, intending to see whether I could give them another strike, I was unable to get any useful information until nine o'clock that night when two of the last ones told me that their General Chief, Cuerno Verde , with four of his principal chiefs and many of his people had gone to raid our country and had told everyone to wait for him at a certain place to celebrate the victory they anticipated when they marched away 16 days ago, and that two days travel away there were a greater number of rancherias headed for the place they and those who had escaped from us were going. When I learned this, without waiting to derive more profit from the present situation, I determined to set out on Cuerno Verde's trail, although I was not comfortable about going back, in hope of having the luck of finding him, something I was going to try to do by whatever means available to me, because striking him a blow now would be to save the loot that he would extract from our country should his raid be successful. We spent the night on the alert, but nothing happened.