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Troop C, of New York, pursued a party of fleeing Spanish engineers, after the capture of Coamo, a distance of four miles along the road to Aibonito. The Americans were checked at the Cuyon River, where the Spaniards had blown up the bridge, and were shelled from a Spanish battery on the crest of Asoniante Mountain.
The Spanish had fled toward Aibonito, thirty miles from Ponce, and the place was being fortified. There the road winds around among the mountains, and the artillery commanding it rendered the position impregnable. Détours were to be made by the Americans from Coamo through Arroyo and Guayamo, thus avoiding the main road, which had been mined for three miles.
The number and location of the Spanish troops on the island just before the armistice was declared were as follows: Aibonito, 1,800 men, and two 4-inch field cannon; Cavey, 700 men; Caguas, 600; Rio Piedras, 180; Carolite, 320; Arecibo, 320, and two 4-inch field cannon; Aguadilla, 320; Crab Island, 100; Bayamon, 395; San Juan, 1,706, making a total of 5,441, to which may be added approximately 500 of the Guardia Civil, doing duty in their own villages all over the island, and 200 of the Orden Publico, doing similar police duty in San Juan.
It rises in the sierra of Cayey, and, with the name of Pinones river, it flows northwest, passing through Aibonito, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, and Dorado, where it discharges into the Atlantic to the west of the preceding river. The Manati river is bounded on the cast and south by the Sierra Grande and on the west by the Siales ridge.
Although the party was small, they had arms enough to stock a regiment. They were taken before General Wilson, gave up their arms and signed a parole. There was quite a strong resistance made at Coamo, a town on the main military road between Juana Diaz and the Spanish mountain stronghold at Aibonito. General Wilson effected the capture of this place with the most consummate skill.
“Secretary of War, Washington:—The following received from General Wilson: “‘General Ernst’s brigade captured Coamo 8.30 this morning. Sixteenth Pennsylvania, Colonel Hulings commanding, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Biddle, of my staff, having made a turning movement through the mountains, striking the Aibonito road half a mile beyond town, captured the entire garrison of Coamo, about 150 men.
In the east, General Brooke, after landing at Arroyo, had taken Guayama; in the centre, General Wilson had advanced on the military road, occupied Coamo, and had made a demonstration before Aibonito, where there was a large Spanish force; further to the west, General Henry had marched to within fifteen miles of Arecibo; in the extreme west, General Schwan had marched along the coast and taken Mayaguez, the principal port in that end of the island, after a sharp skirmish with a force that outnumbered his own.
General Wilson's troops destroyed the Spanish batteries on the heights facing Aibonito, on Friday, August 12, after a brilliant advance of the artillery. The first firing by the battery was at a range of 2,300 yards, which silenced the Spanish guns.
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