The Burdens of World Power 3he won a Medal of Honor in 1899 in the Philippines. He then
served as a provost marshal and district commander on Luzon
from 1900 to 1903. In 1901, he became a brigadier general in
the Regular Army, an advancement of four grades. Promoted
by McKinley and admired by Roosevelt, Bell was appointed
Chief of Staff in 1906 at the age of fifty.
Another of the new brigadiers, Thomas H. Barry, was a
contemporary of Bell's at West Point. He joined the Seventh
Cavalry on the frontier in 1877 (the Sioux and Nez Perces
had created some openings) and built a reputation as a blunt,
hard-working, and particularly effective staff officer. He was
"fair and square... the best known Catholic officer in the
service." As an assistant adjutant-general, Barry served in the
Philippines and China from 1898 to 1901. Returning to the
United States, he joined the new General Staff and, in the
summer of 1906, was touring Europe to observe maneuvers.
Barry appears in news photos as a stiff, white-haired, dark
browed model of a modern brigadier; the panoply of epau
lettes, aiguellettes, sash, medals, and braid draw attention
from his oversize ears.
However rapid the advancement of Wood, Bell, and Barry
after 1898, the career of Brigadier General Frederick Funston
was by comparison meteoric and far more controversial. He
was incomparably the most colorful of the new generals,
enjoyed wide public recognition, and was strictly not Old
Army. The son of a Kansas congressman, Funston attended
the University of Kansas for two years (1886-88). A fraternity
brother, editor William Allen White, described his friend:
Fred Funston was ... at that time ... a pudgy, applecheeked
young fellow, just under five feet five, who seemed to have decided
in his cradle to overcome his runty size by laughing at himself....
He walked swiftly but not too steadily, indulged in no athletic sports
whatever, was a good rifle shot, had absolutely no sense of fear, physical
or spiritual, was a poor but passable student, read widely, had vast
areas of curious information, loved good clothes which he could not
afford to buy, was methodical and rather meticulous in his habits,
affectionate by nature: everyone... loved him....^5