Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia The Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia ( Spanish : " Compañía Franca de Voluntarios de Cataluña " , Catalan : " Companyia Franca de Voluntaris de Catalunya " ) was a military company of the Spanish Army serving in the Spanish colonial empire . Origins . The company was raised in Barcelona in 1767 for service in New Spain , as a part of an effort to improve the defenses of Spain ' s overseas empire , which in turn was part of the larger Bourbon Reforms of King Carlos III . Initially recruited from the " 2nd Regiment of Light Infantry of Catalonia " , the company was composed of four officers and one hundred enlisted men and was commanded by Captain Agustín Callis , a veteran of Spain ' s wars in Italy and Portugal . Service in Sonora . The Catalonian Volunteers arrived in Guaymas , Sonora in May 1768 as a part of an expedition of some 1200 Spanish soldiers and native allies assembled to quell a revolt by Pima and Seri Indians . After years of active campaigning , the Volunteers returned to Mexico City in April 1771 . The Establishment of Alta California . In September 1768 , Lieutenant Pedro Fages and a detachment of 25 Volunteers were ordered south to San Blas , Nayarit to form a part of the expedition of Gaspar de Portolà to establish a Spanish foothold in Alta California . After 110 days at sea , the Volunteers arrived at San Diego Bay in April 1769 . By this time , over half the soldiers and most of the crew were incapacitated with scurvy . Twelve Volunteers succumbed to illness while awaiting the arrival of the overland arm of the expedition under Captain Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada , who arrived a month later . Still short of provisions , however , the lot of the soldiers improved very little . Despite these privations , the Volunteers participated in the establishment of San Diego and Monterey and extensive expeditions into California ' s interior . In June of 1770 , command of the military forces in California passed to the short tempered and relatively inexperienced Fages . His often high handed treatment of soldiers and missionaries and his possible mishandling of the distribution of rations led to criticism from Father Junípero Serra , who successfully petitioned Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa for his removal . Fages and the Volunteers left California to rejoin their Company in July 1774 . Reorganization . In Sonora , the Catalonian Volunteers served alongside the Fusileros de Montaña ( Mountain Fusiliers ) , another independent company from Catalonia associated with the 2nd Regiment . As a part of new regulations promulgated in 1772 , the two commands were merged and reorganized into two companies of 80 men and 3 officers each : The First Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia , which included the detachment in California under Fages and remained under the command of Captain Callis , and a Second Company under Captain Antonio Pol . Both companies were based in Guadalajara . Garrison Duty in Central Mexico . As light infantry , the Volunteers were thought to be particularly well suited for duty in the mountainous country of central Mexico . Though based in Guadalajara , detachments of Volunteers were frequently posted to the Presidio of Mesa del Tonati in the mountains of Nayarit , the Real del Monte near Mexico City , and to serve as harbor guards at San Blas , the headquarters for Spanish naval operations in the Pacific . For the most part , this service was fairly routine , except for occasional calls to quell disturbances . Return To Sonora . Fages , his reputation now rehabilitated , was promoted to Captain and assigned command of the Second Company in early 1776 . At the urging of Teodoro de Croix , comandant general of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas , Fages and his new command were deployed to Sonora , arriving at Alamos in February 1777 . The following April , the Volunteers of the Second Company were posted to the Presidio of El Pitic ( modern Hermosillo ) in response to renewed hostilities with the Seris , who quickly surrendered . At the urging of Lt . Col Juan Bautista de Anza , the Company was posted at the Presidio of Santa Cruz de Terrenate , which had recently been moved from its previous location to one on the San Pedro River north of modern Tombstone , Arizona , to reinforce the beleaguered garrison against the Apaches , arriving in the fall of 1778 . Though Fages , now a Lieutenant Colonel , was able to restore order and discipline to the presidio , the garrison proved unable to mount an effective counter - offensive . In December of 1780 , with the Second Company now down to half strength , Fages left Terrenate for Mexico City for new recruits . In his absence , the Presidio was ordered abandoned , and the garrison moved to its previous location at Santa Cruz , Sonora , which was believed to be more defensible and easily supplied . The Company was soon once again posted at El Pitic , where they were employed in putting down another rebellion by the Seris . In September 1781 , Fages led an expedition that included 40 men of the Second Company to the Yuma Crossing to quell a rebellion by the Quechan and their allies . Though they were able to liberate Spanish captives , secure the remains of the slain Father Francisco Garcés and recover sacred vessels from the destroyed missions of Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción and Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer , Fages ' command was unable to subdue the tribe . Despite two subsequent expeditions by Fages and the Second Company over the next 2 years , the crossing would remain closed to Spain . During the third expedition in the Fall of 1783 , Fages was appointed Governor of California , and the Volunteers returned without him to Pitic . In subsequent years , the Volunteers of the Second Company were posted around Sonora , assigned to duties at the presidios of Buenavista , Fronteras , Pitic and Tucson where they were employed fighting the Apaches and Seris , until 1785 , when they were assigned to the Villa de Chihuahua . From there , they continued active campaigning against the Apaches . The Pacific Northwest and California . Pere d ' Alberní was named Captain of the First Company when Callis died in 1782 . In August 1789 , after years of routine garrison duty in Guadalajara , the Company was assigned to duty in the Pacific Northwest in response to the Nootka Crisis . They arrived at Nootka Sound in April 1790 where they re - established the abandoned redoubt of Fort San Miguel , becoming the first regular European military unit posted to present - day British Columbia . The Volunteer ' s mission was to secure Spain ' s claims to the Pacific Northwest against incursions by the British and , in particular , the Russians . To that end , Alberni ' s men were employed as marines in the expeditions of Jacinto Caamaño , Salvador Fidalgo , Dionisio Alcalá Galiano , Salvador Menéndez , and Manuel Quimper of the Pacific coast from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Kodiak Island . The First Company returned to Guadalajara in 1792 , though some Volunteers remained on detached duty in Nootka as late as 1794 . In 1796 , as a response to the War of the First Coalition and rumors of American incursions , Alberni , now a Lieutenant Colonel , and his company were sent to reinforce California . Detachments of Volunteers augmented the Presidios of Monterey , San Diego , and San Francisco . Part of Alberni ' s mission in California was to establish a new civilian settlement called the Villa de Branciforte , which was established in 1797 , with the intention that the community would be settled by retired Catalan Volunteers . This however did not materialize , and the project was abandoned in 1802 . Alberni was appointed Governor of California in 1800 and was replaced as Captain by José Font . Font and his scattered command were active in guarding Spain ' s claim ' s in California against incursions by foreign vessels , particularly American ones . Despite an increase in such activity , the First Company ( except for a detachment that remained in San Diego for a few more years ) was withdrawn to Guadalajara in 1803 and were not replaced . Dissolution of the Companies . Lt . Col . Alberni died in Monterey in 1802 . He was the last of the original group of officers who had sailed from Barcelona in 1767 . By this time , the unit was no longer Catalan in character with men and even officers largely from other parts of Spain and criollos from Mexico . In 1810 the Volunteers were mobilized against the revolt of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla . The First Company , still posted at Guadalajara , was reorganized and absorbed into other units . As the Mexican War of Independence escalated , the Second Company , posted at El Perote near Mexico City under Captain Juan Antonio de Viruega since 1800 , was deployed to Morelos to join an army under General Calleja in a massive campaign against the insurgency . During the Siege of Cuautla in 1812 , the Volunteers were assigned to man an ambuscade at the Campo de Sacatepec . Though Calleja later praised their valiant stand , the Second Company was unable to prevent the escape of scrappy rebels under José María Morelos and suffered heavy casualties . The Volunteers managed to survive as a Company , participating in the battles of Tuxpango , Tlacótepe , and Ajuchitlán , through 1815 , by which time they were no longer a discrete unit , having been absorbed into larger battalions . Uniform . Its uniform consisted of blue coat with yellow collar and cuffs , yellow waistcoat , blue breeches and black tricorne hat with the red cockade of the House of Bourbon . There were two drummers on the strength of the company . After 1760 , Spanish army drummers wore the livery of the King of Spain – a blue coat with scarlet collar and cuffs , along with a scarlet waistcoat . Both coat and waistcoat were trimmed with scarlet lace that was embroidered with a white chain pattern . This same pattern of lace had decorated French uniforms before the French Revolution began in 1789 . The Bourbon kings of Spain were a branch of the French royal family , and adopted a similar livery . Images in Modern Culture . The crest of the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey includes an image of a feathered leather helmet that is meant to symbolize the Catalan Volunteers and to commemorate their role in the founding of the post . Though such helmets were briefly a uniform item for the Spanish infantry at the turn of the 19th century , it is unlikely that they were ever worn by the Catalan Volunteers in North America . The Catalan Volunteers are portrayed in the 1955 American film " Seven Cities of Gold " , which presents a fanciful and historically inaccurate account of the founding of Spanish California . Lieutenant Fages is played by Mexican actor Victor Junco . In the credits , Fages ' name is misspelled as " Faces . " An infantry soldier wearing a Catalan Volunteer uniform briefly appears in the opening scene of the 1968 film " Guns of San Sebastian " which , like " Seven Cities of Gold , " stars Anthony Quinn . However , the movie is supposed to take place in 1746 , twenty years before the Volunteers ' arrival in New Spain .