Major General Nelson Miles, commander of American ground forces sent to Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, led about twenty thousand men in a three-pronged campaign that began in Guanica and was to coalesce near San Juan. One of General Miles's subordinates, Brigadier General Theodore Schwan, commanded the Independent Regular Brigade, which engaged Spanish forces in the western section of the island prior to the cessation of hostilities on August 13. This book narrates the story of Schwan's campaign. The author, who was a soldier-participant in the campaign, gives a first-person acount of events without loosing sight of the broader scope of developments. The attitudes, prejudices and expectations of American soldiers towards the inhabitants of the island are reflected in the author's narrative.