After receiving permission and funding from Viceroy Bucareli in Mexico City, Anza began organizing his expedition in the fall of 1775. Authorized to colonize the San Francisco Bay area by transporting 38 families, together with livestock and soldiers, he began to recruit from among the poor in Culiacan, 600 miles south of Tubac.
After a freak desert snowstorm killed a number of their livestock, they headed up Coyote Canyon, going through San Carlos Pass on December 26. They arrived in San Gabriel on January 4, 74 days after leaving Tubac and 8 months after leaving Culiacan, the principle point of assemblage. He had succeeded in leading an enormous expedition safely to its destination through 1,800 miles of desert wilderness.
On February 17, Anza and his expedition resumed their march north, traveling the familiar El Camino Real to Monterey, where they safely arrived on March 10. While the colonists remained there, Anza with Font and a squad of soldiers, spent the following month exploring the San Francisco Bay area. Before leaving, Anza designated the future site of both the San Francisco Presidio and Mission Dolores.
On April 13, 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza left Monterey and returned to Tubac. On June 17, the colonists left Monterey to sew the seeds for the city of San Francisco. Two weeks later on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies on the eastern shore of North Åmerica formally declared their independence from England.
Upon his return to Sonora, Juan Bautista de Anza Anza was named governor of New Mexico. He died 12 years later on December 19, 1788 and was buried in Arizipe, Sonora, Mexico