(Signed) “Sewall.”
CHAPTER XV.
THE PORTO RICAN CAMPAIGN.
July 20. With bands playing and thirty thousand people cheering, the first expedition to Porto Rico left Charleston, S. C., at seven o’clock in the evening, under command of Maj.-Gen. J. H. Wilson. The Second and Third Wisconsin and Sixteenth Pennsylvania regiments, and two companies of the Sixth Illinois, made up the list of troops.
July 21. General Miles accompanied the expedition bound for Porto Rico, which left Guantanamo Bay, made up of eight transports convoyed by the New Orleans, Annapolis, Cincinnati, Leyden, and Wasp.
July 22. An expedition under command of Brig.-Gen. Theo. Schwan left Tampa on five transports, bound for Porto Rico.
July 25. The expedition under the command of Major-General Miles landed at Guanica de Porto Rico, the Gloucester, in charge of Lieutenant-Commander Wainwright, steaming into the harbour in order to reconnoitre the place. With the fleet waiting outside, the gallant little fighting yacht Gloucester braved the mines which were supposed to be in this [pg 321]harbour, and, upon sounding, found that there were five fathoms of water close inshore.
