25 JUL--This Day in US Military History

1898 – During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launch their invasion of Puerto Rico, the 108-mile-long, 40-mile-wide island that was one of Spain’s two principal possessions in the Caribbean.

With little resistance and only seven deaths, U.S. troops under General Nelson A. Miles were able to secure the island by mid-August. The Spanish forces expected the Americans to attack the northern region of the island and concentrated their defences around San Juan and Arecibo. The Spanish government was also aware of a planned landing by the Americans at Fajardo, located on the east coast and had that town fortified. However, the southern and western regions of Puerto Rico were left with little or no defences at all. After Cuba was taken, President William McKinley approved the land invasion of Puerto Rico by way of Fajardo, taking into consideration that the Spaniards had fortified San Juan, where they expected the initial attack.
A convoy of ships left Tampa, Florida and on July 21 another convoy, which included the USS Yale, USS Massachusetts, USS Gloucester and the USS Dixie, departed from Guantánamo for a 4 day journey to Puerto Rico. Major General Miles traveled aboard the USS Yale. While approaching the Mona Passage that separates Puerto Rico from the island of Hispaniola to the east, Miles opted to land his troops in the southern region of the island, choosing Guánica as his landing zone. Miles dispatched patrol boats to notify all other convoys of his decision and to order them to proceed to Guanica. Miles’ decision to change the invasion site was based on his belief that the town of Fajardo would be fortified and he feared that Spanish coastal gun boats would disrupt a landing at Fajardo. In 1898, Guánica was a small barrio within the jurisdiction of the town of Yauco and its only defence was eleven members of the 4th Volante de Yauco, a Puerto Rican militia unit, under the command of Lieutenant Enrique Méndez López.
When the Guánica lighthouse keeper Robustiano Rivera spotted the approaching convoy, he immediately gave the alert to the residents of the barrio. All of the residents, with the exception Agustín Barrenechea, Vicente Ferrer, Juan María Morciglio, Simón Mejil, Salvador Muñoz, Cornelio Serrano and Pascual Elena who welcomed the invaders, abandoned their homes and joined Rivera on his journey to Yauco where he broke the news of the invading forces to the city’s mayor.
The Gloucester was the first ship to set anchor in the Bay of Guánica. Twenty-eight sailors and Marines, under the command of Lieutenants H. P. Huse and Wood, departed from the ship on rafts and landed on the beach. The Marines lowered the Spanish flag from the beach flagpole and replaced it with the American flag. They then proceeded to set up a machine gun nest and placed barbed wire around their perimeter. The first land skirmish in Puerto Rico between the Puerto Rican militia and the American forces occurred when Lt. Méndez López and his men attacked and opened fire on the Americans. During the small battle which followed, the Americans returned fire with their machine gun and the Gloucester began to bombard the Spanish position. Lt. Méndez López and three of his men were wounded and the militia unit was forced to retreat to the town of Yauco.
After the skirmish was over, men from the Lampasas landed on the beach to secure the area and to build a landing dock. The units that landed were the 6th Volunteer Regiments of Illinois and Massachusetts, an Artillery battalion, five batteries, two engineer companies and a medical unit. The men who had not abandoned the barrio of Guanica swore allegiance to the United States. Garretson named Agustín Barrenechea mayor of Guanica and Simón Mejil the chief of police.
On the afternoon of the 25th, Garretson left Guánica with seven companies of the 6th Massachusetts and one company of the 6th Illinois and headed towards Yauco. Secretary of War Russell A. Alger learned about the landing at Guanica the next day when he read an Associated Press report in a local Washington, D.C. newspaper. The War Department had ordered Miles to invade Puerto Rico by way of San Juan and therefore Alger was completely surprised with the report. Miles would have been subject to disciplinary actions had the invasion not gone so smoothly. Alger received the following cable from Miles three days after the invasion: “Spanish troops are retreating from southern part of Puerto Rico. This is a prosperous and beautiful country. The Army will soon be in mountain region. Weather delightful; troops in the best of health and spirit. Anticipate no insurmountable obstacles in future results. Results thus far have been accomplished without loss of a single life.”
After Rivera, the keeper of the Guánica lighthouse, notified Atilio Gaztambide, the mayor of the town of Yauco, located six miles (10 km) north of Guánica, of the American invasion of Guánica, the mayor in turn notified Governor Macías via telegraph. Governor Macías ordered Captain Salvador Meca and his 3rd company of the 25th Patria Battalion from Yauco to head for Guánica. Meca and his men were joined by Lieutenant Colonel Francisco Puig, who assumed command of the Spanish forces at Hacienda Desideria two miles (3 km) from Guánica. Puig arrived with two companies known as “Cazador Patria Battalion”, and they were joined by Puerto Rican volunteers, the Civil Guards, and mounted guerrillas from the towns of Yauco and Sabana Grande. Puig had the men positioned on both sides of the road that ran from Guánica to the coffee Hacienda Desideria (owned by Antonio Mariani) in Yauco, as well as an infantry company positioned on a hill south of the hacienda.
In the meantime, Garretson, set out of Guánica with his men towards Yauco with the intention of capturing the Yauco rail terminus that ran between that town and the City of Ponce, the largest city in the southern region of the island. Garretson and his men arrived in the darkness of night and was informed by his scouts of the possibility of a hostile situation at the Hacienda Desideria. He ordered the Illinois company and two companies (companies L and M) of the 6th Massachusetts to occupy a small hill on his right that overlooked the hacienda. Captain San Pedro detected the movements of the American troops from his positions on a nearby hill and ordered his men to open fire. Garretson then ordered a direct attack on the Spanish and Puerto Rican forces in the hacienda.
At day break on the 26th, the 6th Massachusetts overran the Spanish forces and suffered four casualties. Puig was expecting reinforcements from Yauco which did not arrive and was ordered to disengage and retreat. Before retreating the right wing of the Spanish force, which was not overrun, initiated a flanking attack against two positions held by the Illinois and Massachusetts companies. The unexpected strength of the Spanish force caused some of the 6th Massachusetts troops to momentarily panic, but the Spanish forces were eventually driven off. Puig and his forces suffered two officers and three soldiers wounded and two soldiers dead. Puig and his men retreated towards Yauco, but failed to destroy the rail terminus which connected the town to the city of Ponce, and proceeded to march towards the town of Peñuelas.
Garretson’s troops entered Yauco in the afternoon of July 26 and on July 27 Puig’s men continued their march, leaving their artillery and heavy equipment behind, passing the towns of Adjuntas and Utuado and finally arriving at the town of Arecibo on the northern coast of the island on July 29. Col. Puig, believing that he would be dishonored and accused by the Spanish Government of abandoning military equipment during his retreat, committed suicide on August 2.
Miles, upon learning about the lack of discipline of the 6th Massachusetts during the battle, ordered an investigation. The 6th Massachusetts was sent on a hard march from Guánica to Ponce as punishment and the regimental commander, a lieutenant colonel, as well as a major, and a captain resigned upon request.

https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2005/07/25/july-25/