The first U.S. civilian Governor of Puerto Rico was Charles Herbert Allen. 

He arrived on April 27, 1900 like a Roman conqueror – with a naval cannon salute, the Eleventh U.S. Infantry Band, and hundreds of soldiers surrounding him. 

Allen proceeded straight to La Fortaleza. 

It had already been gift-wrapped. The governor delivered his inaugural address behind the largest, most imperial flags that Puerto Ricans had ever seen. 

His speech was in English and no one translated it. 

It rained heavily throughout the ceremony. There were many umbrellas. It was a gray melancholy day, and the rain never stopped, like tears falling from the sky.