The Spaniards were taken completely by surprise.  Almost the first they knew of the approach of the army of invasion was in the announcement contained in the firing of a gun from the Gloucester, demanding that the Spaniards haul down their flag, which was floating from a flagstaff in front of a blockhouse standing to the east of the village.

The first couple of three-pounders was fired into the hills right and left of the bay, purposely avoiding the town, lest the projectiles should hurt women and children.  The Gloucester then hove to within about 600 yards of the shore, and lowered a launch having on board a Colt rapid-fire gun and thirty men under the command of Lieutenant Huse, which was sent ashore without encountering opposition.

Quartermaster Beck thereupon told Yoeman Lacy to haul down the Spanish flag, which was done, and they then raised on the flagstaff the first United States flag to float over Puerto Rican soil.

Spaniards open fire.

Suddenly about thirty Spaniards opened fire with Mauser rifles on the American party.  Lieutenant Huse and his men responded with great gallantry, the Colt gun doing effective work.

Almost immediately after the Spaniards fired on the Americans the Gloucester opened fire on the enemy with all her three and six pounders which could be brought to bear, shelling the town and also dropping shells into the hills to the west of Guanica, where a number of Spanish cavalry were to be seen hastening toward the spot where the Americans had landed.

Lieutenant Huse then threw up a little fort, which he named Fort Wainwright, and laid barbed wire in the street in front of it in order to repel the expected cavalry attack.  The lieutenant also mounted the Colt gun and signaled for re-enforcements, which were sent from the Gloucester.

Presently a few of the Spanish cavalry joined those who were fighting in the street of Guanica, but the Colt killed four of them.  By that time the Gloucester had the range of the town and of the blockhouse and all her guns were spitting fire, the doctor and the paymaster helping to serve the guns.

Soon afterward white-coated galloping cavalrymen were seen climbing the hills to the westward and the foot soldiers were scurrying along the fences from the town.

By 9:45, with the exception of a few guerrilla shots, the town was won and the enemy was driven out of its neighborhood.  The Red Cross nurses on the Lampasas and a detachment of regulars were the first to land from the transports.

After Lieutenant Huse had captured the place he deployed his small force into the suburbs.  But he was soon re-enforced by the regulars, who were followed by Company C of the 6th Illinois and then by other troops in quick succession.  All the boats of the men-of-war and transports were used in the work of landing the troops, each steam launch towing four or five boats loaded with soldiers.  But everything progressed in an orderly manner and according to the plans of General Miles.  The latter went ashore about noon, after stopping to board the Gloucester and thank Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright for his gallant action.