Funston, Frederick

Funston, Frederick, 1865–1917, U.S. general, b. New Carlisle, Ohio. He was a newspaper reporter and a field agent (1888–95) of the Dept. of Agriculture, exploring Death Valley and the Yukon. Love of adventure led him to enlist in the army of Máximo Gómez y Báez to help win Cuban independence from Spain. As a result of this experience, he was called to head a Kansas regiment in the Spanish-American War. Although his troops took no active part in the war itself, they were sent to the Philippine Islands to help put down the insurrection there. When his army discharge papers were already made out, Funston by a daring feat captured the insurgent leader, Emilio Aguinaldo. Instead of leaving the army he became a brigadier general. In 1914 when U.S. troops entered the city of Veracruz, he was given command of the occupying troops, and as major general he commanded later in wars on the Mexican border. He wrote Memories of Two Wars (1911).

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Funston, Frederick (1865–1917) soldier; born in New Carlisle, Ohio. Son of a farmer and a five-term congressman known as "Fog Horn" Funston, he was trained as a botanist. In 1896–97, he served as a volunteer with the Cubans revolting against Spain. As a volunteer in the U.S. Army, he fought in the Philippine insurrection that followed the Spanish-American War (1899–1901). Promoted to brigadier general, he led a small unit that captured the Philippine leader Emilio Aguinaldo in his camp in March 1901. He commanded the U.S. Army forces that in 1914 seized Veracruz during the revolutionary unrest in Mexico. He spent the remainder of his career commanding troops on the U.S. border with Mexico.