Ivan Sordo
History 660
Professor Tygiel
Word Count 1714
Frederick Funston and Empire
In San Francisco between 12th and 14th Avenue is Funston Street. By the Presidio, the former US Army base, is an old set of military structures collectively called Fort Funston. To most people these are just names to identify various locations in the city. But behind the name is a person who is a historical figure that is significant, not just for San Francisco, but for the United States of America and the Republic of the Philippines. Frederick Funston was to many a hero of his times but to others he was also a symbol of his times and not a good one.
1898 saw the United States change from a nation taming a wild frontier to a nation building an empire. The Spanish-American war was initially seen as a war to liberate an oppressed people from a European empire. Cuba was freed from the government of Spain but in doing this the US acquired many of Spain’s overseas’ possessions and became and empire, in all but name, overnight.
One of these overseas’ possessions were the Philippine Islands. Part of Spain since the 16th century these islands were also going through it’s own independence movement. Various uprisings against the Spanish government occurred during the latter half of the 19th century. Like Cuba, the Philippines sought independence from a far away empire.
In February of 1898 the USS Maine, a U.S. battleship, was sunk in Havana Harbor. The Spanish government vehemently denied any connection with its sinking. The US government, led by President McKinley, demanded that Spain withdraw it forces from Cuba. Spain refused. In April a state of war existed between Spain and the United States of America. The major focus of the war was the invasion and liberation of Cuba, but that was not the only scene of conflict. The US Navy had to contain and destroy the Spanish Fleet in Cuba and also the portion of their (Spanish) navy stationed in the Philippines. In May Admiral Dewey and his task force sailed into Manila Bay and destroyed the Spanish naval force based there. On the way to Manila Dewey picks up exiled Philippine leader Emilio Aguinaldo. With the help of local Philippine insurgents the Philippine capital, Manila, falls to Admiral Dewey. War ends on August 12th with signing of peace treaty.
With the end of the war many people thought that the Philippines would be given its independence, such as Cuba. But in December 12, 1898 President McKinley released the “Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation”. Part of it stated: With the signature of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain by their respective plenipotentiaries at Paris on the 10th instant, and as a result of the victories of American arms, the future control, disposition, and government of the Philippine Islands are ceded to the United States. In the fulfillment of the rights of sovereignty thus acquired and the responsible obligations of government thus assumed, the actual occupation and administration of the entire group of the Philippine Islands becomes immediately necessary, and the military government heretofore maintained by the united states in the city, harbor, and bay of Manila is to be extended with all possible dispatch to the whole of the ceded territory. Armed conflict broke out among the US troops and Philippine insurgent armies on February of 1899. Thus began the Philippine-American war.
At this time Frederick Funston was a Colonel and commander of the 20th Kansans Volunteer Regiment. Funston always wanted a military career but because of height restrictions Funston was rejected entrance to West Point. This did not stop him from trying to achieve his goals. He traveled to Cuba and served as a civilian with the insurrection movement against the Spanish. Funston went back to his home state of Kansas and volunteered his services to the state’s militia. He missed the war in Cuba but was given command of a regiment and sent, with other army reinforcements to the Philippines. His service record at this time states: Commanded his regiment en route to and at San Francisco, California to October 27, 1898, when he sailed with it for the Philippine Islands, arrived Manila Nov. 30, and served there-into September 3, 1899, being in command of the 1st Brigade, 2d Division, 8th Army Corps, May 22 to July 4, 1899. He was absent sick and on leave, September 3 to December 26, 1899. In command of the 3d Brigade, 2d Division 8th Army Corps January 5 to April, 1900; the 4th District, Department of Northern Luzon, to September, 1901, during which period he was frequently in the field in active operations, and in the capture of Aguinaldo, March 23, 1901. Sick in Hospital and on sick leave, to April 10, 1902.
Commanding Department of the Colorado to March 18, 1903, and commanding the Department of the Columbia since March 23, 1903.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor, February 14, 1900, for most distinguished gallantry in action at Rio Grande de la Pampanga, April 27, 1899, when Colonel, 20th Kansas Infantry, in crossing the river on a raft and by his skill and daring enabling the General Commanding to carry the enemy’s entrenched position on the north bank of the river and drive him with great loss from the important strategic position of Calumpit.
Recommended by Major General [Arthur] MacArthur for brevet of Major General of Volunteers for gallant and meritorious services throughout the campaign against Filipino insurgents from February 4 to July 1, 1899.
March 28, 1901, General MacArthur cabled, describing the capture of Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901.
“The transaction was brilliant in conception and faultless in execution, all credit must go to Funston who, under supervision of General Wheaton, organized and conducted expedition from start to finish. His reward should be signal and immediate.”
"In 1902, General Wheaton said: “I am under great obligations to Brigadier Generals * * * Funston who have since my last report, at various places, held command within the territorial limits of the Department. Their able and energetic execution of all operations committed to them has my highest commendation... .”
Adjutant General’s
Office,
Washington, July 22, 1903.
It was the actions in the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo that made him a symbol for the anti-imperialists.
The Anti-Imperialist movement started with the threat of war with Spain. It began with small groups protesting a needless war. Once the United States traveled down the road to empire it organized itself into the “Anti-Imperialist League”. It’s platform was stated in 1899 stating: “ We hold that the policy known as imperialism is hostile to liberty and tends toward militarism, an evil from which it has been our glory to be free.”
(. "Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League." Text from Carl Schurz, The Policy of Imperialism, Liberty Tract No. 4 (Chicago: American Anti-Imperialist League, 1899). Many Americans who could, and did, support a war against Spain to free Cuba could not support a war in Philippines to build something the United States of America was never meant to be, an empire.
The most prominent member of the league was the most famous author in the United States in the latter half of the 19th century, Mark Twain. In May of 1902 Twain wrote a satirical essay called “The Defense for General Funston”. By 1902 Funston was the most well known soldier from the war in the Philippines. By sneaking in to Auginaldo’s camp and capturing him the general public opinion was that he just about ended the war (In July of 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt declared the war over in the Philippines), various newspapers across the country lauded his courage (Funston is a Lion, the Williamsburg Star, March 21, 1902). But Twain did not see it this way. Funston was a perfect example of the wrong direction that the country was taking. Aguinaldo was not taken in honorable combat, Funston snuck in, under “false colors”. By taking advantage of the mercy of the enemy Funston, and the country, became worse than the enemy.
The Anti-Imperialists, Mark Twain, the American Empire and Frederick Funston have all faded into history. Internal dissension and the promise of Philippine independence (which was achieved in 1946) led to the collapse of the Anti-Imperialists. Mark Twain would achieve immortality for his other writings, such as “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer”. The American Empire faded and survived in different ways. Cuba and the Philippines both achieved independence. Smaller territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam are still territories of the United States. And Frederick Funston? He would end up achieving most of his military ambitions. He would be confirmed as a Major General in the Regular Army. Achieve more fame as the commander of Army troops at the Presidio during the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. President Woodrow Wilson considered him for the job of Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces for service in World War 1 but he would die by a heart attack in 1917.
Frederick Funston was and is a symbol of that time. The U.S. was entering the world stage. Many Americans, like Funston, did not see anything wrong with this. Many Americans, like Mark Twain, did see a lot wrong with this. As the U.S. was trying to find its place in the world there was the constant debate on what the U.S. was supposed to be. World power? Isolationist? Empire? Funston was a symbol in that he was the tip of the spear for that empire. If his country was going to war, he was there. If it was going to occupy another country, he was there, doing his duty. There is nothing inherently wrong with these beliefs. The debate should always be if this is the right course of action for the country, at the time.
- General Funston Museum http://skyways.lib.ks.us/museums/funston/reschar.html
- Presidio of San Francisco, US National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/prsf/history/bios/funston/htm
- www.boondocsknet.com
- “Funston is a Lion” Williamsburg Star, March 21 1902
- “Defence of General Funston” by Mark Twain, North American Review, May 1902
- . "Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League." Text from Carl Schurz, The Policy of Imperialism, Liberty Tract No. 4 (Chicago: American Anti-Imperialist League, 1899)
- “Chronology of the War with Spain” 1907