by
surprise as to his point of attack, he effected a landing on the 26th at
Guanica, near the southwestern corner of Porto Rico.

The expeditionary force to Porto Rico, however, consisted not of 30,000
men but of only about 15,000; and it was not fully assembled on the
island until the 8th of August. The total Spanish forces amounted to
only about 10,000, collected on the defensible ground to the north and
in the interior, so that they did not disturb the disembarkation. The
American Army which had been dispatched from large Atlantic ports,
such as Charleston and Newport News, seems to have been better and more
systematically equipped than the troops sent to Santiago. The Americans
occupied Guanica, Ponce, and Arroyo with little or no opposition, and
were soon in possession of the southern shores of the island.

Between the American forces and the main body of the enemy stretched
a range of mountains running east and west through the length of the
island. San Juan, the only fortress, which was the main objective of the
American Army, lay on the opposite side of this mountain range, on the
northern coast of the island. The approach to the fortress lay along a
road which crossed the hills and which possessed natural advantages
for defense. On the 7th of August a forward movement was begun. While
General Wilson's army advanced from Ponce along the main road toward San
Juan and General Brooke moved north from Arroyo, General Schwan was to
clear the western end of the island and work his way around to Arecibo,
toward which General Henry was to advance through the interior. The
American armies systematically worked forward, with an occasional
skirmish in which they were always victorious, and were received with
a warm welcome by the teeming native population. On the 13th of August,
General Wilson was on the point of clearing his first mountain range,
General Schwan had occupied Mayaguez, and General Henry had passed
through the mountains and was marching down the valley of the Arecibo,
when orders arrived from Washington to suspend operations.

The center of interest, however, remained in the far-away Philippines.
Dewey, who had suddenly burst upon the American people as their first
hero, remained a fixed star in their admiration, a position in which his
own good judgment and the fortunate scarcity of newspaper correspondents
served to maintain him. From him action was expected, and it had been
prepared for. Even before ne