Galiga, John Kenneth U.

September 23,2019
10- Caloocan City(8). Mrs.Miles Peralta

HISTORY
Upon the advice of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, a battery was constructed on the
rocky promontory called "the Morro", when the location of La Fortaleza was deemed
unsuitable. This battery consisted of a tower with 4 embrasures, and a Water Battery at the
foot of the slope for 3 guns. By 1555, Morro had 8 bronze cannons, as a defense against
French privateers.
During the Spanish government of the island, El Morro, also known as Castillo de San Felipe,
survived several attacks from foreign powers on various occasions. In 1595, Englishman Sir
Francis Drake unsuccessfully attacked San Juan with his fleet in the Battle of San Juan (1595).
In 1598, the English attacked again, led by George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland. Clifford
succeeded because he attacked San Juan over land instead of trying to enter through the San
Juan Bay. However, an epidemic of dysentery forced him to flee the island after the Battle of
San Juan (1598).
In 1625, the Dutch, led by Boudewijn Hendricksz, also attacked the island emulating George
Clifford's overland invasion. To the amazement of the citizens, the invaders were able to pass
in front of the castle's defenders and into the harbor, out of reach of the city's cannons. El
Morro managed to resist the siege and eventually made the Dutch retire, although the
attackers were able to sack and burn the city before leaving the Battle of San Juan (1625).
In 1797, British General Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Henry Harvey, with a force of 7,000–
13,000 men, invaded the island of Puerto Rico. Captain General Don Ramón de Castro and his
forces repelled the attack. Abercromby and Harvey were defeated in the Battle of San Juan
(1797).
El Morro's last active fight occurred during a naval bombardment by the United States Navy
during the 1898 Spanish–American War, ending the age of naval warfare in the Caribbean, at
least in the classical sense. During the Spanish–American War, the castle was attacked at least
three times by American naval forces, the largest being the Bombardment of San Juan on May
12, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, in which Spain ceded
ownership of the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States.
On March 21, 1915, Lt. Teófilo Marxuach was the officer of the day at the El Morro fortress.
The Odenwald (built in 1903 and not to be confused with the German World War II warship of
the same name) was an armed German supply ship which tried to force its way out of the bay
and deliver supplies to the German submarines waiting in the Atlantic Ocean. Lt. Marxuach
gave the order to open fire on the ship, which was forced to return; its supplies were
confiscated.[8] The shots ordered by Lt. Marxuach are widely regarded to be the first shots
fired by the United States in World War I, although the first actual wartime shot fired by the
U.S. came on the day war was declared, during the scuttling of the SMS Cormoran off Guam.
During World War II the United States Army added a massive concrete bunker to the top of El
Morro to serve as a Harbor Defense Fire Control Station to direct a network of coastal artillery
sites, and to keep watch for German submarines which were ravaging shipping in the
Caribbean. A lighthouse, rebuilt by the U.S. Army in 1906–08 is the tallest point on El Morro,
standing 180 feet (55 m) above sea level. Flagpoles on El Morro today customarily fly the
United States flag, the Puerto Rican flag and the Cross of Burgundy flag, also known in Spanish
as las Aspas de Borgoña, a standard which was widely used by Spanish armies around the
world from 1506–1785.
CASTILLO SAN FELIPE DEL MORRO –
PUERTO RICO