Spanish King Charles IV for recognition for the victors; he was promoted to field marshal and several others were promoted and given pay raises. The British persisted in invading Puerto Rico, after Abercromby's defeat, with unsuccessful skirmishes on the coastal towns of Aguadilla (December 1797), Ponce, Cabo Rojo, and Mayagüez. This continued to occur until 1802 when the Treaty of Amiens ended the War of the Second Coalition between European powers and Revolutionary France. 19th century France had threatened to invade the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. In 1808, the Spanish Crown sent their Navy, under the command of Puerto Rican Captain Ramón Power y Giralt, to prevent the invasion of Santo Domingo by the French by enforcing a blockade. Col. Rafael Conti organized a military expedition with the intention of defending the Dominican Republic. They were successful and were proclaimed as heroes by the Spanish Government. San Juan native Demetrio O'Daly was a Sergeant Major in the Spanish 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). When King Ferdinand returned from exile and kidnapping, he repealed the Constitution of 1812, which as the rest of European monarchs, he felt was a Napoleonic maneuver to weaken the countries. But O'Daly was a defender of the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and was considered a rebel and exiled from Spain by King Fernando VII in 1814. In 1820 O'Daly, a liberal constitutionalist, together with fellow rebel Col. Rafael Riego organized and led the Revolt of the Colonels. It was not a revolt against the king, but a revolt to force him reinstate the constitution which was successful. This was called the Trienio Liberal/Liberal Three years (1820–23). During this process O'Daly was promoted to field marshal and awarded the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando (Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand), the highest military decoration awarded by the Spanish government. American Civil War During the 1800s, commerce existed between the ports of the eastern coast of the United States and Puerto Rico. Ship records show that many Puerto Ricans traveled on ships that sailed to and from the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Many of them settled in places such as New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, many Puerto