About the Zúñiga Expedition - page 1 of 2
The Sonoran garrisons of Fronteras, Santa Cruz, Tupson, Altar, Bacuachi and Tubac participated in the expedition. Besides Captain Zúñiga, four ensigns and a sergeant led the expedition. There were six corporals, six carabineers, 125 soldiers and eight Apache scouts. There are subtle comments in the Zúñiga journal indicating that other support personnel participated. For instance, the captain selected 51 men to stay behind to escort the “main body”, assumed here to be a pack train carrying expedition supplies.
The cultural diversity of the force is unknown today, but it is likely that the majority of men were of Indian or of mixed European/Indian ancestry. Eight Apache scouts were dispatched from the presidio of Bacuachi, in addition to the 26 men identified only as soldiers. The Apaches were detailed to squads of enlisted men on reconnaissance. Zúñiga and the cavalry were led by one Apache scout familiar with the region. Spanish records (currently being translated as part of the O'odham-Pee Posh Documentary History Project by the Office of Ethnohistorical Research at the Arizona State Museum) show that during the late eighteenth century the Bacuachi garrison was manned by Opata Indians and the Tubac garrison by Pimas (O'odham) and Yaquis (Dale Brenneman, personal communication). Officer (1989:92-93) also notes that during the last years of Spanish rule the Sonoran population was identified as mestizos, coyotes and, occasionally, as mulatos (each connoting mixed race persons) and only a few were identified as españoles, or Spanish. Besides Zúñiga only four men on the expedition bore the title of don, suggesting Spanish descent.
The six companies gathered on April 10, 1795, at the abandoned royal presidio of Santa Cruz de Terrenate on the San Pedro River. The following day Zúñiga went about his appointments to the force. Ninety-nine men equipped to move quickly were assigned to the fatigue party (a fatigue party was a number of soldiers from different presidios working together). Each man was instructed to bring at least three extra mounts. These included both horses and mules. The fatigue party contained the infantry, cavalry and the scouts. The infantry was frequently dispatched on the journey to follow fresh tracks thought to be made by Apaches and to investigate locations of possible Apache Rancherias. Zúñiga on the other hand concentrated on moving forward with the cavalry and did little reconnoitering of his own.