Porto Rico: its Capture and its Problems: San Juan and Ponce
The popular demonstrations continued all day. The natives were all in gala dress, and "open house" was kept for all Americans. Kindness and hospitality were unbounded. This outburst was not entirely the artifice of fear.
Three days before, Captain-General Macias, the Spanish commander-in-chief, had cabled to the Madrid cabinet that Porto Rico could not be defended. He said the populace was inclined to the Americans and could not be depended upon, and that his handful of 12,000 or 15,000 troops could not make an effective resistance.
This information caused the Sagasta government's pretences of war to collapse. Its most favored possession, Porto Rico, favorable to the enemy, Cuba inevitably lost, its fleet destroyed, its treasury bankrupt, and its expected friends in Europe unable to take a step, there was but one thing to do, if the Philippines were to be saved by hook or by crook. That one thing necessary was to sue for peace.
On the 26th of July, therefore, the Spanish government made overtures for peace. While General Miles was waiting in Ponce peace negotiations were pending, but there was to be no halt in the prosecution of his campaign.
The great central trans-Porto Rico highway runs from Ponce northeasterly to San Juan, through the towns of Juan Diaz, Coamo, and Aybonito, where it goes almost eastward to Cayey, there to take a winding course to the north as far as Caguas, where it turns west to Aguas Buenas, and then goes decidedly north to San Juan through Guayanabo and Rio Piedras, making in all a distance of about eighty-five miles. The distance from Ponce to San Juan in a straight line is only forty-five miles. The highway is a fine military road. Major-General Wilson was appointed Governor of Ponce, and the troops started next day for Juana Diaz. In two days, under American tariffs, the custom-house at Ponce yielded a revenue of $14,000. The natives were asking for American flags to hoist over the large buildings, a clear indication of the state of settled feeling about the new relations.
The campaign in Porto Rico lasted nineteen days, and was conducted upon military lines which were impossible at Santiago. When the Spaniards withdrew along the line of the great military road between Ponce and San Juan, they destroyed the bridges, obstructed the roads, and fortified strong positions in the mountain passes, and then were surprised to find that one column of our army was sweeping around the west end of the island, capturing the municipalities and towns, while another had passed over the mountains by a trail which the Spaniards had supposed impassable, and, therefore, had not fortified or guarded. The first the Spanish knew of the march of the American army was the appearance of a strong brigade within twenty miles of the northern coast, at the terminus of the railroad connecting San Juan with Arecibo. The actual objective of both movements was to capture San Juan, where the greatest force of the enemy gathered by retreat. There were not more than half a dozen encounters with the enemy, all mere skirmishes. The troops on the west coast, under General Brooke, were all regulars, while the main column that moved along the military road was composed of volunteers. These acted with courage and spirit throughout the whole march, and displayed the temper that would quickly convert them into veteran soldiers.
The campaign was ended without either movement being completed. But both were well in hand, and there is no doubt that they would have been thoroughly carried out to success. A few days more and General Schwan and General Henry, with their divisions, would have effected a junction at Arecibo, ready for a flank movement on the capital in the rear of the Spanish forces operating around Aybonito. These would have been driven from the latter position by General Wilson; and while there might have been found many points for a stand by the enemy, the only possible outcome would have been precipitate retreat by the Spanish to San Juan, or their capture.
"The island of Porto Rico," said General Miles, on his return, "was fairly won by the right of conquest, and became a part of the United States. The sentiment of the people was in no sense outraged by the invaders, but, on the contrary, was successfully propitiated. A people who have endured the severity of Spanish rule for four centuries hail with joy the protection of the Great Republic. One of the richest sections of country over which our flag now floats has been added and will be of lasting value to our nation, politically, commercially, and from a military or strategic point of view. The possession of that island also rendered any further resistance of the Spanish forces in Cuba hopeless."
General Miles remained in Porto Rico as long as he deemed his presence necessary for carrying out his instructions, and returning brought with him nearly 5,000 troops no longer required. There were about 12,000 troops left on the island for garrison purpose, a number considered ample for the duty.