This Day in American History: U.S. Troops Land in Puerto Rico

On this day in 1898, American troops waded ashore on a Caribbean island most of them had never heard of -- and within a single day, they'd taken it without losing a man.

With Spain's Cuban garrison at Santiago already defeated, Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles personally took command of an expedition to seize Puerto Rico, sailing from Guantanamo Bay with a convoy carrying more than 3,300 men. Miles quietly changed the planned landing site from Fajardo in the east to Guanica in the south at the last minute, without telling his civilian superiors in Washington, betting the move would catch the Spanish off guard and put his forces closer to the strategically important city of Ponce.

The gamble paid off. The gunboat USS Gloucester, a converted J.P. Morgan yacht, steamed into Guanica harbor before dawn on July 25, 1898, and a small party of sailors and Marines went ashore to seize the town's lighthouse. When a handful of Spanish troops showed up to contest the landing, the Gloucester opened fire and drove them off. American infantry poured ashore behind them, and within about six hours, the U.S. had taken the town, all without a single American casualty.

From Guanica, American columns pushed north and east across the island, largely welcomed by a Puerto Rican population weary of Spanish rule. By the time an armistice ended the Spanish-American War less than three weeks later, on August 13, the United States controlled the island. Puerto Rico was formally ceded to the U.S. that December in the Treaty of Paris, beginning a relationship with the mainland that continues to this day.

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Also on this day:

• 1814 -- American and British troops fight the bloodiest battle of the War of 1812 at Lundy's Lane, near Niagara Falls.

• 1952 -- Puerto Rico officially becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

• 1956 -- The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks off Nantucket after colliding with another ship.

• 1961 -- Roger Maris hits four home runs in a doubleheader on his way to breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record.

• 1978 -- Louise Brown, the world's first "test-tube baby," is born in England, ushering in the age of IVF.

A converted yacht, 3,300 men, and a six-hour fight for an island that's been part of the American story ever since.

Source: Library of Congress "World of 1898", U.S. Army Center of Military History