The other major battle that almost happened would have taken place about six miles north of Guayama. After taking that town, General Hains sent companies of the 4th Ohio northward to reconnoiter the road ahead, and they discovered a strong Spanish position on the Guamani Heights. A skirmish ensued on August 8th to the north of the Guamani River Bridge, with the result that the Spanish simply withdrew further north along the road and into the mountains. General Hains decided that a frontal assault by his entire force wouldn’t produce better results, so he sent 4th Ohio on a flank march to the west while bringing up his artillery and his other two regiments. The plan was for his main force to attack the Spanish position from the front, after which 4th Ohio would make a flanking attack once the Spanish were pinned by the frontal assault. During the American preparations, Spanish engineer Julio Cervera Baviera directed the construction of a large network of hidden trenches on the heights, which would have made taking the position a serious challenge for the American volunteers. General Hains was moments from giving the order to open fire when word arrived of the armistice. This scenario depicts the battle that would have taken place at the Heights of Guamani had the armistice not been signed that day.

The scene at the moment when the battle was about to begin was captured by newspaper correspondent Richard Harding Davis, who wrote: “They [some of the men of Battery B] were behind a gun pointed at the enemy...entrenched to the left of Guayama. The shell was in the chamber, the gunner aimed the piece and had run backward, but before it spoke, Lieutenant MacLaughlin, of the Signal Corps, galloped upon the scene shrieking, ‘Cease firing, peace has been declared!’ Whereat the men swore.”