📅 On This Day in Military History
1 event across history
With Cuba's fate sealed, the United States opened a second front in Puerto Rico. On July 25, 1898, General Nelson Miles landed troops at Guánica on Puerto Rico's southern coast, and three days later American forces entered Ponce — the island's second largest city and its main commercial port — essentially without a fight. The local population was divided: some Puerto Ricans, hoping for independence or autonomy, welcomed American forces; others remained loyal to Spain. The Spanish garrison offered minimal resistance, and the city was occupied bloodlessly, with the American flag raised over the city hall.
The capture of Ponce gave the Americans a major logistical base in Puerto Rico and demonstrated the weakness of Spanish resistance on the island. The swift seizure accelerated the Puerto Rico campaign and established an American foothold that would prove permanent.
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