Frederick Funston

In 1901 scarcely an American lived who was unfamiliar with the name of Frederick Funston, the hero of the Philippine insurrection. Through a daring ruse this Kansan had captured the rebel leader and broken the back of the uprising. Previously he had received the nation's highest award for valor, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Funston's adult life was one of almost unbelievable adventure. In the early 1890s he participated in scientific expeditions in the Dakota Badlands, Death Valley, and in Alaska along the Klondike and Yukon Rivers. In 1896 he joined forces of Cubans who were fighting for independence from Spain. He was immediately made a captain of artillery. Two years later, when he was sent home because of malaria, he was a lieutenant colonel.

Hardly had Funston returned home before the Spanish American War broke out and Kansas was called upon for troops. Funston was appointed colonel of the 20th Kansas Infantry, which was soon sent to the Philippine Islands. On February 4, 1899, the insurrection broke out. Because of his leadership Funston was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers and in 1901 was given that rank in the regular army where he spent the rest of his life.

In 1906 he did much to keep law and order in San Francisco and to provide relief to sufferers of the great earthquake. In 1914 he was in command of American troops on the Texas border during the difficulties with Pancho Villa. Future general, John J. Pershing, was one of his subordinates. On November 17, 1914 Funston was made a major general.

A heart attack took the life of the 51-year-old general on February 19, 1917. His college friend, William Allen White, called him "one of the most colorful figures in the American army from the day of Washington on down."