Frederick Funston was born in New Carlisle, Ohio and grew up near Iola Kansas. By the early 1890s he was participating in scientific expeditions in the Dakota Badlands, in Alaska along the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, and in Death Valley in the Mojave Desert of California.

In 1896, Funston joined Cuban forces, who were fighting for independence from Spain. Raising in their ranks from captain of artillery to lieutenant colonel, he was sent back to the United States in 1898 because of catching malaria.

However, Funston did not remain in the States for long. When war was declared against Spain in 1898 in the United States' ploy to gain island colonies, Funston was appointed colonel of the 20th Kansas Volunteer Infantry. Funston led troops to the Phillippine Islands. His second in command was Major Wilder Stevens Metcalf (1855-1935) of Lawrence, KS, who was wounded at Caloocan and Bocane. Metcalf was promoted to colonel before mustering out with the rest of the regiment in October 1898.

In December 1899, Funston returned to the Philippines and led a small unit of American soldiers and Macabebe, Philippino scouts, in the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo, a Philippino insurrectionist. Due to this feat, Funston was promoted to Brigadier General of the Regular Army in June 1901, the youngest general in the army at the age of 35.

Funston continued to serve in the army, keeping law and order and providing aid after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco and commanding troops at the Texas-Mexico border in 1914 against Pancho Villa. In 1914 Funston was also made a Major General.

Funston died of a heart attack in February 1917, before he could lead American Expeditionary Forces into Europe in World War I.

[Information retrieved from Kansapedia, "Frederick Funston," https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/frederick-funston/12060 and "Spanish-American War," https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/spanish-american-war/12211.]