With Spain already reeling from defeats in Cuba and the Philippines, US forces launched an invasion of Puerto Rico, encountering only scattered resistance. The campaign led to Spain's cession of the island under the Treaty of Paris, beginning over a century of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the United States that continues to shape its status today.
General Nelson Miles commanded a force that landed at the southwestern port town of Guánica rather than the capital San Juan, catching Spanish defenders off guard. The invasion came after the US Navy had already crippled Spanish naval power in the Caribbean and Pacific, leaving the Spanish garrison on Puerto Rico isolated and undersupplied.
Resistance was light and casualties minimal compared to the brutal fighting in Cuba. American troops advanced across the island over the following weeks, and many Puerto Ricans, hoping for autonomy after centuries of Spanish colonial rule, initially welcomed the invasion.
The war ended in August 1898, and the subsequent Treaty of Paris formally transferred Puerto Rico to the United States. What began as a swift military campaign set the island on a path toward an unresolved and often contested political status, oscillating between statehood movements, independence advocacy, and its current status as an unincorporated US territory.
Key people: Nelson Miles