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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
LT. WHITNEY COMPLETES RECONNAISSANCE OF PUERTO RICO
On May 25, 1898, in the midst of the Spanish-American War, 1st Lt. (later Brig. Gen.) Henry H. Whitney, Fourth U.S. Artillery, completed a covert reconnaissance of Puerto Rico. The valuable information he obtained helped plan the successful U.S. invasion of the island two months later.
After the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor in February 1898 and U.S. declaration of war on Spain two months later, the U.S. Army mobilized and deployed troops to Cuba. American forces preparing to land on Cuba had a detailed report on Cuban geography, transportation networks, and military strength and defenses on the islands, courtesy of the War Department’s Military Information Division (MID). Conversely, relatively little was known about the other Spanish colony in the Caribbean: Puerto Rico.
Once hostilities flared between the two countries, the U.S. considered the strategic value of Puerto Rico. Foremost, capturing the 4,000-square-mile island and its Spanish forces would prevent Spain from using it as a logistics base and source of reinforcements. In early May, Philip C. Hanna, the American consul in the capital city of San Juan, informed the War Department that 10,000 American troops could easily take the sparsely held island, and they could expect full support from the Puerto Ricans. Still, needing more definitive information, on May 5, Secretary of War Russell Alger ordered Lieutenant Whitney to conduct a secret reconnaissance of the island.
The 31-year-old Whitney, an 1892 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, had been on special duty with the MID since 1896 and had served as military attaché in Buenos Aires. Disguised as a British sailor, he immediately secured passage on a British merchant ship bound for the port of Ponce on Puerto Rico’s southeast coast. Shortly after embarking, however, his cover was blown. Secretary Alger bitterly wrote later, “Certain newspapers with a criminal disregard for his personal safety, to say nothing of the government’s plans, took pains, as soon as he had sailed, to publish, with the utmost attention to detail, not only the fact, but the purpose of his mission.”
Whitney arrived in Ponce on May 15, barely escaping Spanish authorities by acting as one of the ship’s coal stokers. Then, adopting the alias of H. W. Elias and a disguise as a British marine officer, Whitney strolled ashore and began a ten-day reconnaissance of the island. By June 1, he was back onboard a ship steaming for Washington, arriving eight days later. He brought with him a detailed map of the city of San Juan and military information for the rest of the island. Notably, Whitney learned Spain had just 8,000 regulars on Puerto Rico, supported by about 9,000 militia, and almost no artillery or naval vessels. His report covered the terrain, condition of the harbors, locations of Spanish troops and supplies, and the nature and sentiments of the inhabitants.
As the naval and ground war continued in Cuba throughout June, Maj. Gen. Nelson Miles used Whitney’s information to prepare for his invasion of Puerto Rico on July 25. The fighting continued there into mid-August, even as Spain and the United States negotiated for peace. In the treaty ending the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with Guam, to the United States, while the U.S. also assumed administrative control of Cuba and possession of the Philippines.
After the war, both Alger and Miles commended Whitney for the valuable information he obtained during his reconnaissance of Puerto Rico. Whitney was also later awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for actions “in connection with operations on the island of Puerto Rico in May, 1898, under disguise and in the midst of an enemy.”
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| Date Taken: | 05.23.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2025 16:07 |
| Story ID: | 498862 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 16 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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