Field Marshal Demetrio O'Daly (January 26, 1780 – 1837), was the first Puerto Rican to reach the rank of Field Marshal in the Spanish Army. O'Daly was awarded the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando (Laureate Cross of Saint Fernand), the highest military decoration awarded by the Spanish government. He represented Puerto Rico as a delegate to the Spanish Courts. Among his many accomplishments was the introduction of a Bill to the Spanish legislature which established free commercial trade and public education in Puerto Rico. Early years O'Daly (birth name: Demetrio O'Daly Fernández de la Puente ) was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He lived there with his parents, Tomas O'Daly and Maria de la Puente y Franco and his older brother and sister. His father Tomas was a Colonel in the Spanish Army Corps of Engineers who was sent to Puerto Rico in the quest of revamping the El Morro fort then known as the Castle of Saint Phillip and was named chief engineer of modernizing the defenses of San Juan, which included the Castle of San Cristóbal. His father later became a successful businessman in his association with the growth of commercial agriculture. Upon his father's death in 1781, his uncle Jaime took over the family property and helped raise the three O'Daly children. O'Daly received his primary education at private schools and when he was older he was sent to Spain where he received his military training at a military educational institution. Military career O'Daly participated in various military engagements. He was a Sergeant Major in the army when he participated in the 1809 Peninsular War, also known as the Spanish War of Independence, after the Napoleonic Invasion of 1808 and the kidnapping of both king Charles IV and Prince Ferdinand, later king Ferdinand VII. Both were taken to Fontainebleau in France, while Napoleon usurped the Spanish Crown naming his brother Joseph as king of the Spains of Europe and the Indies, this is so because before the Spanish-American Independences, Spain was a single 'federal' country divided into several kingdoms in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The Spanish Armed Forces of Europe divided between the collaborationists with Napoleon (afrancesados) and the Patriots against the Napoleonic Occupation/Usurpation. Thousands of European (peninsular) and overseas (criollos/creole) Spaniards participated in the War. While the war was taking place, the "Diputación Permanente del Reino" sort of the Council of the Regency,