The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1898-07-27
GUANICA THE POINT
American Troops Landed There, Over
powering the Resistance Of
Spanish Troops.
GALLANT LITTLE GLOUCESTER
Lltu,saaat SsiINhght sad his A.a Haul
DoSs the Spanish Flag Oar SOL
disD Spared ToSa Eas-
nv Dh,ta Away.
GALLANT LITTLE GLOUCESTER
lcopyrlghled isss by No Associated pr,..J

HoRT or oUANlcA. Island Of
NPor,o Rico. July q. 2 p. m. via
n Island of 81, Thomas. m'y .,
morning Tho United States military or-
pedluon under command Of General
Miles. which LEFT Guantanamo ba, On
Thursday last. was landed here sucsi1-
fully today after a skirmIsh between a
dc,aehmen, Of Spanish troops and a crew
Of thirty belonging 10 tho launch Of the
auxiliary gunboai Gloucester Forty
spaniards were killed and no Americans
were hurt The troops were pushed for
ward rapidly In order TO capture the rail.
road leadIny 90 Ponce. which Is abou,
ten miles cas, Of ihis place.
The ships le;, Guantanamo bay Thurs
day evening. wi,h ,he Massachusetts.
commanded by Captain +. J. Hlgglnson
leading Captain Hlgglnson was In
charge o' ,h, expedition. which consisted
ot he Columbia. Dixie. Gloucester and
Yale. General Miles was on the last yes-
sci The troops were on board nine trans
ports. Al noon yesterday General Miles
called for consultation. announcing that
he was determined not TO 80 by san Juan
cape bu, by ,hc Mona passage Instead OF
landing there surprise The spaniaris and
deceive ,hclr military authorities.
The course was then changed and the
Dixie Was sem 10 warn General Brooke
a, Cape Juan. Polnic which Is situated .
10 or !; miles from this port. Is to the
eastward and harder place to take. In
addition the water at Polnlc is too shat
low Tor transports to be able to get close
IN shore. then again. PoInIc Itself is
some little distance from where the
troops would have been able to land n
tina, point had been selected for the de-
barkation Of the expedition. one ad-
vantage OF this place is that It is situated
close to a railroad connecting with Pol
ME. which means OF transportation our
troops hope to secure today,
Early this morning the Gloucester, In
charge OF Lieutenant Commander VAIN
wright, steamed into GuanIca harbor in
order to rconnoltcr. With the feet walt
ing outside the gallant little AghtIng
yacht braved the mines which were sup
posed to be in the harbor. and found that
there were Ave fathoms OF water close in
shore. GuAnlcR Is a place surrounded
by cultivated lands. In the rear are high
mountains and on the beach nestles
village OF about % houses.
The spaniards were completely taken
by surprise. Almost the frst 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 hag, which was floating from
fagstaif In front Of n block-house stand
ing to the east Of the village. The first
couple OF three-pounders were fired into
the hills at the right and left Of the bay
purposely avoiding tho town, lest the pro-
jectiles might hurt the women or chill
dren.
The Gloucester then hove to within GOO
yards OF the shore and lowered launch,
having on board Colt rapld-fre gun
and thirty men under Lieutenant Huese'
who went ashore without enoounterlng
opposition. Quartermaster Beck thereup-
on told Yeoman Lacey to haul down the
Spanish flag, which was done and they
raised on the hagstaft the first United
States flag to float over Porto Rican soil,
Suddenly about thirty spaniaris opened
Are with Mauser rifles on the American
'Allo
party Lieutenant Huese and his men re-
spondod with great gallantry, the Colt
gun doing great work, Almost immedl-
ately after the Americans were fired on
the Gloucester opened fire on the enemy
with those of her three and sIx-pounders