Clyde W. Toland
Lawyer, Historian
Clyde W. Toland received a BA in history from the University of Kansas, a MA in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a JD from the University of Kansas. He is a retired lawyer, having practiced for 48 years in Iola, Kansas, his hometown.
As a grade school student, he became fascinated by his local Allen County, Kansas history and by Frederick Funston’s early adventurous life in Death Valley, Alaska, the British Northwest Territory, and Cuba. For more than thirty-five years, he has been a student of Funston’s life. Funston, the fighting bantam general of the U. S. Army, was a mere 5 feet, four inches in height and for most of his life weighed a scant 120 pounds. He was widely read, fearless, modest, and adored by his soldiers. He was mourned as a national hero at his death at age 51in 1917, and 10,000 people passed his casket as he lay in state in the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.
As president of the Allen County Historical Society, Inc., in Iola, Mr. Toland was the driving force in the successful move in 1994 of Frederick Funston’s rural childhood home to the Iola town square and in its subsequent restoration and opening as a museum in 1995. Two years later, the adjoining Funston Museum and Visitors' Center was opened. This Funston museum complex is completed by a life-size statue of Major General Funston.
Mr. Toland founded the Buster Keaton Celebration, a nationally and internationally known humanities event held annually in Iola from 1993 through 2017.
At age fifteen, he became a Life Member of both the Allen County Historical Society, Inc., and the Kansas State Historical Society. Mr. Toland and United States Senator, Nancy Kassebaum Baker, are the two first recipients of the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Kansas. For comments from Mr. Toland, see below.
In Mr. Toland's words: "I became fascinated by Fred Funston's adventurous life when I was 8-years-old. I could not imagine that this little guy--5'4" and 120 pounds--could survive the extreme heat of Death Valley followed by the 40 degree below zero temperature of the Arctic. I was entranced reading his published letters which modestly told of his experiences in those two vastly different locales. As I grew older, I acquired a broader knowledge of his accomplishments which made him an American hero. I wondered, however, what forces and events created the remarkable man that he became. Thus, starting in 1995, I began researching and writing what became my Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy. This was published 27 years later in 2022. The volumes are as follows:
American Hero, Kansas Heritage: Frederick Funston's Early Years, 1865-1890
Heath and Ice: Frederick Funston’s Exploration of Death Valley, Alaska, and the British Northwest Territory 1891-1894
Yankee Hero: Frederick Funston, “Expedicionario” In the Cuban Liberation Army 1896-1897
Volume One received the Western Writers of America 2023 Best First Nonfiction Book Award and the 2023 Will Rogers Silver Medallion in the Memoir/Biography category. I was thrilled to receive a blurb (endorsement) for Volume One from retired General David H. Petraeus, my first blurb! Other blurb writers for volume one include University of Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod and then-K-State President and retired USAF General Richard Myers.
Volume Two includes blurbs by Shirley Christian, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author, and Bill Kurtis,founder of Kurtis Productions which produces documentaries in Cold Case Files and currently American Greed for CNBC. Blurb writers for Volume Three includeTom Crouch, the author of two seminal books about Funston, and former United States Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker. I have been blessed with wonderful blurbs by 15 great people.
I enjoyed immensely researching and writing this biography about Funston's formative years. At no time was it a burden. I did not seek a publisher so that I would never be under the pressure of a deadline for completion. Going at my own pace over so many years allowed me the time to think deeply about aspects of Funston's life, and I believe made for a better book.
I recently completed writing for my family my autobiography, I Was Born Sunnyside Up: Finding the Secret of Happiness. As an historian and biographer, I was fascinated by systematically reviewing and interpreting my own life!"
American Hero, Kansas Heritage - Frederick Funston’s Early Years 1865-1890
Volume 1 of the Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy - A tale of “cool courage, iron endurance, and gallant daring”
...from Western Writers of America for Best First Nonfiction Book
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2023 Will Rogers Silver Medallion Award Winner
Western Biographies / Memoirs Category
“An engrossing, engaging, and superbly written account of ‘Fearless Fred’ Funston’s formative years in rural Kansas, which molded the individual who would go on to command forces in the Philippines, earn a Medal of Honor, and ultimately command in 1917 the largest US Army since the Civil War. Clyde Toland’s narrative clearly reflects Toland’s life-long interest in Frederick Funston and Allen County, his impressive capabilities as a researcher, and his incisive analytical skills as a lawyer. The product of his work is a truly delightful read!”
-- General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, and former Director of the CIA
“Many are familiar with the Funston name due to Frederick Funston’s famed military career, but his early life and adventures were just as noteworthy. Indeed, this part of his life was sometimes more exciting, if that is possible, and it was critical to his later success. Clyde is, hands down, the leading Funston scholar, with decades of research and curation experience with the subject. In this volume, Clyde does not merely rely on the same repeated stories, but on a wide array of extensive research, which he critically examined for accuracy. His meticulous research and polished writing style create an indispensable book. I savored reading this book, including reading the detailed notes. Clyde’s work on Funston is certain to become the seminal study on the subject.”
-- Jarrett Robinson, BA History, MS International Relations, student of Frederick Funston’s life for thirty years
Heat and Ice - Frederick Funston's Exploration of Death Valley, Alaska, and the British Northwest Territory 1891-1894
Volume 2 of the Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy - A tale of "cool courage, iron endurance, and gallant daring"
“Clyde Toland has brought to life a hometown Kansas hero from a century ago who plunged into the wilds of this incredible land and shaped the military genius he would become. With the Bible, Kipling, and a dictionary in his backpack, Fred Funston survived near-starvation, killing heat in Death Valley, and snows up to six feet in the Yukon while collecting botanical species and writing about it for publications ranging from his hometown paper to The New York Times. I enjoyed immensely reading Heat and Ice.”
-- Shirley Christian, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist and author
“It’s easy to get distracted by the accomplishments of Fred Funston that warranted a personal letter from President Woodrow Wilson upon his death. But his journey to get there is the real story. It’s been meticulously documented in Clyde Toland’s magnificent Volume Two of Funston’s life. Rising from the Kansas prairies, his exploring spirit took him where few dared, from the intense heat of Death Valley to the Chilkoot Pass in Alaska. And that’s just the beginning. Mr. Toland has brought to life an old-fashioned hero from Kansas to take his place among the greatest Americans. I can’t wait for Volume Three.”
-- Bill Kurtis, BS University of Kansas, JD Washburn University School of Law, JD (1966). In 1988 he founded Kurtis Productions to produce documentaries such as Investigative Reports and Cold Case Files for A&E Networks, 500 in all. Currently he produces American Greed for CNBC.
"Yankee HERO" Frederick Funston, Expedicionario in the Cuban Liberation Army 1896-1897
Volume 3 of the Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy - A tale of "cool courage, iron endurance, and gallant daring"
“With ‘Yankee Hero,’ Clyde Toland brings to a close his Becoming Frederick Funston Trilogy about the early adventurous life of the future national hero, U. S. Army Major General Frederick Funston. Set in Cuba during its 1895-1898 war of independence from Spain, ‘Yankee Hero’ follows volunteer Funston as he fights for Cuban independence in multiple roles as a member of the artillery, infantry, and cavalry.
Clyde Toland has traced a short in stature, rambunctious, adventuresome Allen County, Kansas, farm boy into a war-weary hero. Fred Funston became dedicated to freedom for Cuba in the war against Spain. Interest continues for a reader as Clyde Toland has maintained an understanding of the Funston family and how important letters were—back and forth to family and friends—even from the battlefield in Cuba to Allen County. Hats off to Clyde Toland for ‘Yankee Hero’ and a greater understanding of a small but greatly important part of our history.”
-- Nancy Kassebaum Baker, United States Senator from Kansas, 1979-1997
“Such notable historical publications as this biography of Major General Frederick Funston, U.S. Army, 1865-1917, rest on two essential cornerstones: thorough research and lucid presentation. Clyde Toland has carefully and successfully incorporated both in his latest study of this courageous, colorful—and sometimes controversial—Kansan. Toland’s work is an important and long-overdue contribution to United States historiography.”
-- Thomas W. Crouch, University of Texas at Austin, PhD in history, retired civilian historian for the United States Air Force, and author of the ground-breaking works, A Yankee Guerrillero: Frederick Funston and the Cuban Insurrection, 1896-1897 (1975) and A Leader of Volunteers: Frederick Funston and the 20th Kansas in the Philippines, 1898-1899 (1984)
*This trilogy is made possible by the Washburn University Center for Kansas Studies and the Thomas Fox Averill Kansas Studies Collection, Mabee Library, Washburn University.