The mulatto landowner Buenaventura Báez emerged as one of the leaders of the Dominican War of Independence, and he failed (in 1846) to convince France to establish a protectorate in the Dominican Republic. Báez went on to serve as President from 1849 to 1853 and from 1856 to 1858, and he launched a naval offensive against Haiti. The Dominican Navy attacked Haitian ports and ships in southern Haiti, effectively destroying the Haitian Navy. In 1861 Spain returned to the country, having struck a bargain with Dominican dictator Pedro Santana whereby the latter was granted several honorific titles and privileges, in exchange for annexing the young nation back to Spanish rule. The Dominican Restoration War began in 1863 however, and in 1865 the Bourbon Queen Isabella II withdrew her soldiers from the island. The war left more than 50,000 people dead, including 40,888 Spanish. Despite regaining its freedom, the capital would continue to experience difficulties, beginning when Pedro Antonio Pimentel, the head of the provisional government at Santiago de los Caballeros, attempted to march triumphantly upon Santo Domingo in August 1865 only to be checked by rival southern forces under José María Cabral.