Guanica,
A seaport in the southwestern corner of the province of Ponce, about 15 miles from the city of Ponce, Porto Rico. In the early part of the war between the United States and Spain (1898), when it became known that a military expedition under Gen. Nelson A. Miles (q. v.) was to be sent to Porto Rico, it was reported with apparent official sanction that the objective point was San Juan, which Admiral Sampson would cover with the guns of his fleet while a landing was being made by the troops. This, however, was a ruse to mislead the Spanish spies in New York and Washington, and while the Spaniards in San Juan were completing preparations to resist invasion, General Miles quietly debarked his army at Guanica on July 25, opposed only by a small force of Spaniards in a block-house. On the following day the Americans advanced to Yamo, and captured the railroad leading into Ponce. By July 29 all of the Americans, numbering 16,973 officers and men, had landed and concentrated in the neighborhood of Ponce for a forward movement against San Juan(q. v.).
