Battle of Fajardo

Faro de Las Cabezas de San Juan (Cape San Juan lighthouse), c. 1898. It is located on the northeastern part of the highest point of Cape San Juan in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

Date	8-9 August 1898
Location	Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Result	inconclusive

Belligerents

Spanish Navy

United States Navy

Casualties and losses

46 killed

58 killed

The Battle of Fajardo was an engagement between the armed forces of the United States and Spain that occurred on the night of August 8–9, 1898 near the end of the Puerto Rican Campaign during the Spanish–American War.

Proceeding under orders from Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, the monitors USS Puritan, USS Amphitrite, the armed tug USS Leyden, and the collier USS Hannibal proceeded from Port Nipe to Cape San Juan, on the northeastern tip of Puerto Rico, arriving late afternoon on August, 1. The ships anchored behind a series of keys: Icacos, Isla de Lobos and Isla Palominos, out of sight from the mainland. Cape San Juan (Fajardo) was the designated landing site for the US Army forces under Major General Nelson A. Miles. However, sometime between July 21–24, 1898, Miles had unilaterally changed the invasion site from Fajardo to Guanica on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico. Expecting a rendez-vous with Miles' troops, but finding no transports save for Arcadia and Mississippi that "had been ordered to make a landing, but were at a loss what to do", the senior officer present, Captain Frederick W. Rodgers, USN, of Puritan ordered Leyden, Ensign Walter S. Crosley, USN, commanding, to stand out for the telegraph office at St. Thomas to communicate with the Navy Department in Washington, D.C. Rodgers ordered two boat parties of bluejackets ashore from Puritan led by Lt. Herman G. Dresel, USN, for reconnaissance. The sailors traveled to within half a mile of the nearby town of Fajardo. Upon spotting Spanish troops, the boat party turned back, seizing a schooner as a Prize of war before returning to Puritan.

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