page_title: Puerto Rico Campaign
section_title: American preparations
hierarchical_section_title: Puerto Rico Campaign / Prelude / American preparations
caption_attribution_description: English: Edwin Emerson Jr., American spy in 19th century Puerto Rico
context_page_description: The Puerto Rico Campaign was the American military sea and land operation on the island of Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War. The offensive began on May 12, 1898, when the United States Navy attacked the capital, San Juan. Though the damage inflicted on the city was minimal, the Americans were able to establish a blockade in the city's harbor, San Juan Bay. On June 22, the cruiser Isabel II and the destroyer Terror delivered a Spanish counterattack, but were unable to break the blockade and Terror was damaged.
  The land offensive began on July 25, when 1,300 infantry soldiers led by Major General Nelson A. Miles disembarked off the coast of Guánica. After controlling the first skirmish, the Americans advanced to Coamo, where they engaged Puerto Rican and Spanish troops in battle. The battle concluded when the allied soldiers retreated after the battle left two dead on their side, and four on the American side.
context_section_description: On May 24, 1898, in a letter to Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge wrote, "Porto Rico is not forgotten and we mean to have it".
  The Spanish Crown was unaware that, at the time, the United States had successfully infiltrated the island with a number of spies, among them Henry Howard Whitney, Henry Ward, George Bronson Brea, William Freeman, James Dewel, Frederick Ober and Edwin Emerson, Jr.
  According to a story published in Century magazine in September 1898, Edwin Emerson, Jr., was pretending to be a German journalist. He presented himself to the German Consul in St. Thomas and asked for the names of Puerto Ricans of German descent whom he could interview. Among the names which the consul gave him were that of the Riefkohl family of the town of Maunabo. Upon his arrival in the town of Maunabo he met 14-year-old Rudolph W. Riefkohl and asked the lad in German if he had a map of Puerto Rico (Emerson had lost his). Riefkohl answered that he did, however it was decidedly too big for Emerson's use. Riefkohl returned home, not knowing that Emerson was a spy, and quickly drew another with a depiction of the major ports and harbors of Puerto Rico. Emerson used the map and it is believed by some that he may have given the map to the U.S. Army Commanding General, Nelson A. Miles, influencing Mile's decision on the landing points for the invasion of Puerto Rico. A photostatic copy of Riefkohl's map was published in the Century article.
caption: Edwin Emerson Jr.
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