Which U.S. general led the invasion of Puerto Rico in July 1898?

Nelson A. Miles led the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico in July 1898. A veteran of the Civil War and the Indian Wars, Miles was serving as Commanding General of the United States Army when he organized the Puerto Rico expedition.

The campaign began after American victories in Cuba and the destruction of Spain’s Pacific fleet shifted attention toward Spanish possessions in the Caribbean. Miles’s force sailed from Guantánamo and the United States with several thousand troops. The main landing took place at Guánica Bay on July 25, 1898, on Puerto Rico’s southern coast.

American troops advanced through towns including Ponce and engaged Spanish and Puerto Rican forces in several actions. The campaign was still underway when the armistice ended hostilities on August 12. The Treaty of Paris later transferred Puerto Rico to the United States.

John Brooke and William Shafter were also senior American commanders in the war, but Brooke was associated with the occupation of Cuba and Shafter commanded the campaign around Santiago. Henry Lawton led U.S. forces at El Caney, not Puerto Rico.