apr 17, 1797 - Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks Loíza Puerto Rico

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On February 17, 1797 the governor of Puerto Rico, Brigadier General Ramón de Castro received news that Great Britain had invaded the island of Trinidad. Believing that Puerto Rico would be the next British objective, he decided to put the local militia on alert and to prepare the island's forts against any military action. On April 17, 1797, British ships under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby approached the coastal town of Loíza, to the east of San Juan. On April 18, British soldiers and German mercenaries (Hessians) landed on Loíza's beach. Under the command of de Castro, British ships were shot at by artillery from both El Morro and the San Geronimo fortresses but were beyond reach. After the invaders disembarked practically all fighting was land based with many skirmishes, field artillery and mortar fire exchanges between the San Geronimo and San Antonio Bridge fortress and British emplacements in Condado to the East and El Olimpio hill in Miramar to the South. The British tried to take San Antonio, a key passage to San Juan, and repeatedly bombarded the nearby San Geronimo to the tune of nearly 1,000 shells and almost demolishing it. At the Martín Peña Bridge, they were met by the likes of Sergeants Jose and Francisco Diaz and the Colonel Rafael Conti who together with Lieutenant Lucas de Fuentes attacked the enemy with two canons. After fiercely fighting by the Spanish forces and local militia, they were defeated in all attempts to advance into San Juan. The invasion failed because the Puerto Rican volunteers and Spanish troops fought back and defended the island in a manner described by a British lieutenant as of "astonishing bravery".

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