Frederick Funston

1865 - 1917  (51 years)

• Name	Frederick Funston  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
  Born	9 Nov 1865	New Carlisle, Clark, Ohio   [1, 5]
  Gender	Male
  Physical Description	only 5 feet 4 inches tall.  [8]
  Education	Kansas   [1, 5]
  	the University
  	He attended for 2½ years.
  Residence	1868	Iola, Allen, Kansas   [5]
  		Funston → Frederick Boyhood home in Iola, Kansas.
  Residence	1880	Deer Creek Township, Allen County, Kansas   [9]
  Education	1886	Iola, Allen, Kansas   [1]
  	graduated high school
  Biographical	Kansas   [5]
  	grew up on a farm in
  Occupation	1890  [1, 5]
  	appointed special agent for the U. S. Department of Agriculture
  	In 1891 he took part in an expedition to Death Valley, California as special botanical agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  Occupation	1892-1894	Alaska   [1, 5]
  	special botanical agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
  	He crossed Alaska to the Arctic Ocean and traveled from the McKenzie River to the Bering Sea, a total journey of 3,500 miles. He camped on the Klondike the winter of 1893-94.  He floated down the Yukon on a canoe.  Resigned from the Department of Agriculture, and went to Mexcio.
  		Funston → Frederick In Alaska between 1892 and 1894 as a botanical agent for the U.S. government.
  Military Service	1896	Cuba   [1, 5]
  	18 months as a revolutionary under Generals Maximo Gomez, Calixto Garcia and others
  	He entered the Cuban insurgent army as a captain of artillery and was promoted to major and then lieutenant colonel, participating in the campaigns of Maximo Gomez and Calixto Garcia.  He returned to the U.S. at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.
  		Funston → Frederick In Cuba during 1896 as a revolutionary.
  Military Service	13 May 1898	Manila, Phillipines   [1, 5]
  	as commander of the 20th Kansas Regiment by appointment of Governor Leedy in the war against Spain
  	He was sent to the Philippines and participated in the Northern Luzon campaign of General MacArthur.
  Military Service	1899	The Phillipines   [1]
  	led the small cadre of American soldiers and Macabebe scouts in the capture of the famed Filipino insurrectionist, Emilio Aguinaldo
  	He was criticized by some for unethically posing as a spy to bring about the capture.
  Military Award	1 May 1899  [5]
  	rank of Brigadier General Volunteers
  	For crossing the Rio Grande River at Calumpit on April 26, 1899, on a small bamboo raft in the face of heavy fire, and establishing a rope ferry by means of which U.S. troops were enabled to cross and win the battle.  He continued in the campaign at the head of the brigade, was wounded at Santo Tomas, and assigned to command the 4th District Department of Northern Luzon in Jan 1900.
  Military Award	14 Feb 1900  [5]
  	Congresional Medal of Honor
  Biographical	23 Mar 1901  [5]
  	organized and commanded the expedition that captured Aguinaldo, the insurgent leader
  Military Award	1 Apr 1901  [1, 5]
  	commission as a Brigadier General, Regular Army
  	This made him (at 35) the youngest general in the Army.
  Biographical	16 Apr 1906	San Francisco, San Francisco, California   [1, 8]
  	used army troops and his own authority to blast buildings in the path of the fire, to set up guards against looting and further destruction, and to organize relief stations for the injured and homeless
  	Funston returned to the Presidio as commander of the Department of California, under division command of Maj.Gen. Adolphus W. Greely . On April 18, 1906, the day of the infamous San Francisco earthquake, Greely was attending his daughter's wedding in Chicago and Brigadier General Frederick Funston was in command of the Presidio.        The severity of the earthquake destroyed the center of the city, and over 300,000 people were left homeless. Funston immediately ordered the mobilization of troops surrounding military installations. He took command of local relief and law enforcement. Funston also directed the dynamiting of buildings to create firebreaks. Acting without state or national authority, Funston was later criticized for many of his actions: Colonel Morris, Post Commander of the Presidio, said of Funston's actions, "He'd better look up his Army Regulations…nobody but the President of the United States in person can order regular troops into any city." He was, however, instrumental in the establishment of communications, sanitation, medical facilities, housing and reestablishing general order to a destroyed city. Again, he was regarded as a national hero, and the media of the time called him "The man who saved San Francisco."
  		Funston → Frederick In San Francisco in command of the Presidio during the 1906 earthquake.
  Military Service	1908-1910	Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas   [1]
  	Commandant of the Army Service Schools
  Military Service	1911-1913  [5]
  	as commander of the Department of Luzon
  Military Service	1913-1914  [1, 5]
  	as Commander of the Hawaiian Department
  Military Service	Apr 1914-Nov 1914	Vera Cruz, , Tamaulipas, México   [1, 5]
  	as Governor
  	He was commander of the expedition to Vera Cruz in April 1914 and was military governor of the city until November.
  Military Award	Jan 1914	Texas City, Galveston, Texas   [5]
  	appointment of commander, 2nd Division, U.S.A..
  Military Award	17 Nov 1914  [1, 5]
  	rank of Major General
  Military Award	Feb 1915  [5]
  	appointment of commander of the Southern Department
  Biographical	1916  [5]
  	was placed in general command of U.S. forces along the Mexican border
  	When Pancho Villa's bandits attacked a village in New Mexico, it was on Funston's recommendation that Pershing and his troops were sent after them.
  Name	Fritz  [1]
  Name	Tim  [1]
  Name	Timmie  [1]
  Died	19 Feb 1917	San Antonio, Bexar, Texas   [1, 5, 8]
  	Cause: heart attack
  	Funston died of a heart attack in a San Antonio hotel near his headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, Texas at the age 51. He lay in state at the Alamo and under the San Francisco City Hall rotunda. (He was the first person to lay in state in the San Francisco City Hall.) Presidio cannons fired thirteen times and city activity stopped for two respectful minutes. He was buried in full dress uniform at the Presidio cemetery. Presidio of San Francisco
  Person ID	I5900	If the Legends Are True...
  Last Modified	23 Dec 2014

  
  

  Father	Edward Hoge Funston,   b. 16 Sep 1836, New Carlisle, Clark, Ohio ,   d. 10 Sep 1911, Iola, Allen, Kansas  (Age 74 years)
  Mother	Ann Eliza Mitchell,   b. 28 Mar 1843, South Charleston, Clark, Ohio ,   d. 26 Apr 1917, Emporia, Lyon, Kansas  (Age 74 years)
  Married	4 Sep 1861	New Carlisle, Clark, Ohio
  Family ID	F2215	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Eda Blankart,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Census	1880	Allen County, Kansas   [9]
  	Deer Creek Township
  Married	25 Oct 1898  [1, 5]
  Residence	Aft Nov 1898	The Phillipines   [1]
  Children	1. Frederick Funston, Junior   2. Barbara Funston
  Last Modified	28 Jul 2010
  Family ID	F2216	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Funston → Frederick

  
  

• Notes

  Frederick Funston was born November 9, 1865, in New Carlisle, Ohio, the son of Edward H. Funston (who later served as Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives and President Pro Tem of the Kansas Senate) and Ann Eliza Mitchell. The family moved to Allen County, Kansas, when Frederick was young. He graduated from Iola High School in 1886, going on to attend the University of Kansas. Although not an outstanding student, Funston was active and well-known, with William Allen White, Ed Franklin, Charles F. Scott, and Vernon Kellogg numbering among his close friends during his college years. As a special botanical agent for the Department of Agriculture, Funston joined a trip to Death Valley, California, in 1891. He recorded many of his impressions of the expedition and sent them back to be published in the Iola Daily Register. In 1892, still an agent of the government, Funston made his famed Alaskan expedition, including the Yukon, from which he returned in 1894. From Alaska, he again sent humorous yet informative reports of the people and places he saw to the newspaper. After holding several newspaper jobs and working for the Santa Fe Railroad, Funston heard General Daniel E. Sickles plead the cause of Cuban independence at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Funston immediately signed up as a Cuban revolutionary, arriving on the island in 1896, and served eighteen months under Generals Maximo Gomez, Calixto Garcia, and others. During this time he was wounded three times, lost seventeen horses, and was captured once. According to his nephew, he would have been shot as an insurgent had he not lied about his identity and swallowed his passport. Shortly after his return to the States, war was declared on Spain, and Governor Leedy of Kansas, recalling Funston's exploits in Cuba, asked Funston to command one of the three regiments being raised in Kansas. Funston accepted and the 20th Kansas Regiment arrived in Manila on November 30, 1898. Less than a month before, at the age of thirty-three, he had married Miss Eda Blankard; she joined him shortly thereafter in the Philippines. For his leadership of the 20th Regiment, Funston was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General Volunteers. Although the 20th Kansas served only a year, Funston returned to the Philippines in late December, 1899. He personally led the small cadre of American soldiers and Macabebe scouts in the capture of the famed Filipino insurrectionist, Emilio Aguinaldo. Criticized by some for unethically posing as a spy to bring about the capture, Funston was nevertheless awarded a commission as a Brigadier General, Regular Army, June, 1901. The animosity of some of the "regular army" towards Funston's success was to continue into later years. At the time, however, Funston, at 35, was the youngest general in the army. Although a national hero immediately after the war, it wasn't until the San Francisco earthquake that Funston again came to the fore. On April 16, 1906, acting quickly in response to the tremors that shook the city, Funston used army troops and his own authority to blast buildings in the path of the fire, to set up guards against looting and further destruction, and to organize relief stations for the injured and homeless. Once again, Funston was the nation's hero. After the earthquake, with the exception of brief service with Secretary of War William Howard Taft's commission to settle a factional debate in Cuba, Funston's assignments were routine. From mid 1908 to 1910, he served as Commandant of the Army Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; during the next two years he was back at Iuzon. In 1911, Funston published an adventurous narrative of his experiences in the Cuban revolution and in the Philippines and his Memories of Two Wars received rave reviews. In 1913, as commander of the Hawaiian Department, he was instrumental in bolstering the island's defenses when a diplomatic crisis seemed to be bringing the United States and Japan to the verge of war. When the tension eased in the Pacific theater, Funston was transferred to another hot spot, the Mexican border. Throughout 1914, he was engaged as the military governor of Vera Cruz and managed to preserve the peace, though not without some difficulty. After the withdrawal of troops in November, 1914, his belated promotion to the rank of Major General finally came. (The debate over Funston's promotion had raged for several years, as the general had been passed over for promotion on a number of occasions. Joseph Bristow of Kansas was his advocate in the Senate and his Kansas friends felt the "regular army" was withholding from Funston the just deserts of his military endeavors, experience, and standing.) Funston was then appointed as Commander of the Southern Department, consisting of virtually the entire Mexican border. When Pancho Villa's bandits attacked a village in New Mexico, it was on Funston's recommendation that Pershing and his troops were sent after them. Funston died at the age of 51 on February 19, 1917, leaving his wife and three children. Eulogies were given in the House of Representatives by Charles S. Gleed and Charles F. Scott, both personal friends of Funston. Newton Baker, who was serving as the Secretary of War at the time of Funston's death, said later that had Funston lived, he undoubtedly would have commanded the American Expeditionary Force in Europe, which became engaged in World War I only months after Funston's death. Kansas State Historical Society

  
  

• Reference

  If the Legends Are True... by J. Craig Canada, "Frederick Funston" (accessed April 25, 2024) | http://www.palmspringsbum.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I5900&tree=Legends.