Mark Barie is a member of the Colonel Robert Barnard Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Camp 2. Every Memorial Day the camp lays flowers on the graves of Union soldiers buried in the Old Fort Myers Cemetery on Michigan Avenue.
“This weekend we are placing a special emphasis on young people,” said Barie. “There were …. more than 200,000 young people under the age of 17 or younger that fought on the Union side in the Civil War.”
Tens of thousands were drummer boys; some were as young as 9.
“There was a different drum call for a whole bunch of communiques, if you will, to the soldiers,” Barie noted. “Depending on what the soldier was hearing in the drum, they would know to go here, go there, do this, do that ... and based on how that drum was beating and when it was beating, they knew what they had to do and when they had to do it.”
One of the graves in the Old Fort Myers Cemetery belongs to Christian Henry “Dad” Funck. He ran away from home and enlisted as a drummer in the Union Army on Dec. 8, 1861. He was just 13. He was wounded the following year and honorably discharged that August.
Fifteen years later, he came to Fort Myers. The year was 1876. There were barely two dozen people living in town at that time. Most were members of the Hendry cattle clan whose men had been Confederate officers.
“He ended up settling in Fort Myers,” said Barie. “He eventually married and had four children. He operated a bakery [across from the Gwynne Institute] in Fort Myers for nearly 50 years, didn't die until the ripe old age of 84.”
To honor his service, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Camp 2 will play taps and lay flowers at his grave on Monday.
“Drummer boys in any war, particularly in the Civil War, kind of tug at the heartstrings,” Barie said.
The service begins at 11 a.m. at the Michigan Street entrance to the Old Fort Myers Cemetery and is open to the public.
MORE INFORMATION:
Drummer boys
Because of their role in beating out battle orders and communication signals, drummer boys on both sides were placed in harm’s way from beginning to end of a battle.
Afterwards, they also saw duty carrying wounded soldiers to hospital tents and burying the dead.
“Given the crucial role they played—and the position they held in the line—many died in battle and lie in nameless graves, while others went on to earn the nation’s highest military recognition,” writes Ron Soodalter for History Net. “For his outstanding service in the bloody Seven Days’ Battles, William E. “Willie” Johnston of St. Johnsbury, drummer for the 3rd Vermont Infantry’s Company D, was awarded the Medal of Honor. He apparently was the only drummer in the outfit who—amid the chaos and mayhem—managed to hold on to his drum. At 13, he was, and is, the youngest recipient of the citation.”
In addition to carrying the wounded from the battlefield, they ran messages, they filled canteens, they tended horses, built campfires, cooked and mended clothes,” Barie said. “They did everything they could to lift their soldier seniors' spirits. They were maybe not of age, but they were of crucial use and very, very important to the soldiers.”
“Younger still was John McLaughlin of Lafayette, Ind.; when he attached himself to the 10th Indiana at the outbreak of the war, he was ‘a little over ten years of age,’” continues Soodalter. “Not content with simply beating his drum, McLaughlin took up a musket and fought alongside his older compatriots. He eventually transferred to a Kentucky cavalry outfit and was wounded twice at the Battle of Perryville in the fall of 1862. Despite permanent damage to his leg, he refused a medical discharge, appealing directly to the president. Lincoln met with the boy, and reassigned him as a bugler.”
"The most renowned of the Union drummer boys was Johnny Clem, the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga,” noted Barie. “He eventually became a brigadier general."
Christian Henry Funck
Christian Henry Funck was not as distinguished as Willie Johnston or Johnny Clem. But he was also severely wounded in battle and remained in poor health for the remainder of his life.
He was born in Baltimore on Oct. 29, 1848. His parents were born in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. prior to his birth.
According to his obituary in the Fort Myers Press, he ran away from home when he was 13 and enlisted in the Union Army as a drummer boy. After being wounded, he was honorably discharged on Aug. 20, 1862. [His official discharge, posted to his Find-A-Grave page, states that he received a medical discharge due to his “very ill health” and “because of such extreme youth that he is physically incapable of enduring the hardship and exposure in the field as a soldier. I consider it for the interest of the government that he be discharged. He was well when enlisted as a drummer boy.”]
He arrived by schooner at George Renton Shultz’s hotel on Punta Rassa on Dec. 20, 1876. It was no doubt the “Guide” captained by William B. Collier, who brought Fort Myers supplies and passengers once a month.
There is no record of whether he actually met Shultz. If he did, they would have undoubtedly hit it off together. Shultz was knows as a gregarious, prolific storyteller. But more than that, Shultz himself had enlisted as an underage boy in the Union Army in 1861. Shultz’s brothers, however, got him discharged because of his age. Deeply patriotic, he regretted his inability to serve his country during its greatest time of need.
From Punta Rassa, Funck made the two-hour boat trip upriver to the tiny burgh of Fort Myers. Funck used to recall that during his first year in town, there were but 22 votes cast in the city election.
Fort Myers, 1876
Manuel A. Gonzalez had arrived on Feb, 21, 1866 to settle his family on the grounds of the old Seminole and Civil War fort. He was joined there by his brother-in-law, John Weatherford, and his best friend, Joe Vivas, who married Gonzalez’s adopted daughter, Christiana. The following Christmas, two new settlers, John Powell and Bill Clay, arrived with their families. But all left in 1872 to homestead tracts of land — the Gonzalezes by present-day Fort Myers High School; Powell across the river, where he established an orange grove; and Clay at the Orange River, where he operated a still that served drovers passing by with their herds bound for the cow pens in Punta Rassa.
But the town had not been completely abandoned. Joe and Christiana Vivas remained.
And the following year, the Hendry clan moved their families onto the grounds of the abandoned fort. They consisted of Francis Asbury Hendry, his wife Ardeline and their children; his brother, Marion, and sister-in-law, Susan and their children; Francis and Marion’s sister, Mary Jane, her husband, Jehu J. Blount, and their brood (Ida, Edgar, Oscar, Jack and Nathan); their nephews, Francis and Augustus Wilson; and along with Charles, his wife, Jane L., and their three children, who were actually the ones that inspired F.A. and Marion to make Fort Myers their home.
As the nephews were settling in, Ardeline’s mom and dad, the Laniers, arrived. They had come to the frontier town to be near their daughter and moved into the commanding officer’s quarters, which Manuel and Evalina Gonzalez had vacated to homestead the acreage that’s now part of the Fort Myers High School campus. Louis Lanier purchased the stock of the trading post that Manuel Gonzalez had opened a couple of years earlier, adding all the items passing drovers and Glades Miccosukee preferred. Inside the historic residence, Mrs. Lanier began converting a portion of the home into a boarding house, the first in Fort Myers.
A few others followed, including Major James Evans, who had actually homesteaded the grounds and land surrounding the old fort. Although he had the legal right to evict the Hendrys and Vivases, Evans instead sold them the land they’d squatted on and became a local hero as a result.
And there was Major Aaron Frierson, his wife, Mary, and their three children along with the town’s future sheriff, Frank Tippins, and his mom.
In contrast to Funck, Fort Myers' other male residents had fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Frances had attained the rank of captain, and had participated along with Marion in the attack on Fort Myers launched by the Confederate Cow Cavalry on Feb. 20, 1865. Evans and Frierson had been Confederate majors.
There is no record of the reception the Hendry clan gave Funck, but whether they welcomed or merely tolerated the 28-year-old, he stayed and made Fort Myers his home until his death at age 84 in 1933.
He married a girl named Carrie. They had five children, four who survived him, and he operated a bakery for nearly 50 years, the store being located on Second Street opposite the Gwynne Institute. [Neither Barie nor the author have been able to ascertain the name of Funck’s bakery, or locate any photograph or other depiction of Funck.]
His residence was on the corner of Second and Jackson streets.
Funck led a life of community service. He had been an Odd Fellow for over 60 years, joining when he was 21, seven years before relocating to Fort Myers. He was a past noble grand of the Fort Myers Chapter.
He was also a member of the Masons for 40 years. He became a Master Mason on Oct. 29, 1892, advancing to the rank of Knight Templar. At that time, the Fort Myers Masonic group was operating under a dispensation from the grand lodge, and he was among the original members when a charter was issued the following year.
In 1931, he received the DeMolay legion of honor degree, one of only two Masons in Florida who received that honor by the grand council of DeMolay.
Two of his sons were members of the Second Florida Regiment of the Florida National Guard who were sent to the Mexican border in 1917 during the U.S. attempt to capture Pancho Villa. His 17-year-old son, Carl, died while being stationed on the border. His body was returned to Fort Myers by his brother Ollis (Charles O. Funck), also of the Second Regiment.
A third son, Williamson H. Funck, was a veteran of World War I.
Well known and admired for his generous nature and kind spirit, Christian Henry was affectionately known as “Dad” Funck throughout the small town of Fort Myers. His life made a difference to all who knew him.
His obituary in the Press said he was survived by his wife, Carrie C. Funck and four children, Mrs. Homer Klay, Mrs. A.J. Johnston, C.O. Funck and Alfred O. Funck, all residents of Fort Myers. He also had two sisters, Mrs. J.E. Smith and Mrs. Rose Healty and a brother, Dr. J. William Funck, all of Baltimore.
The ceremony
“Memorial Day is for the honoring of our veterans who died, and the Sons of the Union Veterans Civil War Camp No. 2, which is right there in Fort Myers, goes out to the cemetery every year to place flowers on the graves. On Monday, we’ll pay tribute to the patriotism, sacrifice, and personal life of Christian Henry Funck,” said Barie. “He answered the call when his nation needed him and he was one of the earliest pioneer settlers in Fort Myers.”
This year, there will also be a color guard and the playing of taps.
“There'll be a group of our veterans’ descendants on hand to place a flower on each of at least 21 grave sites,” Barie added. “They’ll be equipped with maps. This should be one of the finest ceremonies we've had at the cemetery in a long time.”
Why Union soldiers
Some reading this will be surprised that the Old Fort Myers Cemetery contains the graves of Union soldiers.
First, some of the soldiers who died in this area were federal soldiers who served prior to the Civil War.
Fort Myers grew from the remains of the old Union outpost that had been built on the south shore of the Caloosahatchee River on the site of Fort Harvie. The earlier stronghold had been established in 1841 in the aftermath of a hurricane that had destroyed the deep water depot downriver in Punta Rassa by the name of Fort Dulany. Construction began Feb. 20, 1850 and continued through the duration of the Third Seminole War, which ended with the deportation of Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs and 124 members of his tribe on May 4, 1858.
The fort contained 57 pine buildings, including a plastered two-story hospital. Those who died, whether in battle or from disease or other causes of death, were buried in a cemetery located to the east of the hospital where Fowler Avenue and Second Street meet today.
The fort was regarrisoned in January 1864, not by Confederate but by Union soldiers. They were stationed there for purposes of confiscating cattle from ranches located between Punta Gorda and Tampa that were supplying beef cows to Confederate forces in Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. From their base of operations in Fort Myers, Union soldiers also conducted sorties against Confederate positions to the north, particularly Fort Brooke, Tampa and Cedar Key.
Eventually, the raids became so disruptive that a force of 250 men attacked Fort Myers on Feb. 20, 1865, with orders to burn the fort to the ground. However, the contingent in the fort, buttressed by elements of Companies D & I of the second regiment of the United States Colored Troops, repelled the attack.
Four Union soldiers were killed in the raid. Nine others went missing in action. The four were buried in the fort’s cemetery, which had previously received those who died from disease or wounds sustained in skirmishes in other parts of Florida.
The cemetery at Second and Fowler
The remains buried in the old fort’s cemetery rested in peace for years, but as the town grew and the land to the east was developed, the cemetery’s location became problematic.
In 1888, the Fowler Avenue and Second street section of town was being platted for homes. Citizens felt that, in all decency, the bodies had to be removed. At that time, 55 bodies were excavated and relocated to the Old Fort Myers Cemetery off Michigan. But that was only the start.
The remains of 22 more bodies were removed from the Second and Fowler street location in 1993. An archaeological report, titled “A Century of Burial Removals at the U.S. Military Cemetery at Fort Myers (8ll1758): Historical and Archaeological Perspectives,” published by the Florida Archaeological Society in 1993, postulates that the cemetery once held an even larger number of soldiers. “Considering that the fort was used in 1841-1842, 1850-1858, and again in 1864-1865 during the Civil War, the potential for the burial of a large number of soldiers must be assumed. Additionally, the presence of civilians, as well as Seminole prisoners, increases the potential number of burials many fold.”
A subsequent report three years later noted that “… the graves of [an indeterminate number of] soldiers, civilians, and prisoners who died during the decades spanning the creation of Fort Harvie in 1840 through the close of Fort Myers at the end of the Civil War remain lost beneath the streets of Fort Myers.”
Still, many remains were located, identified and relocated to the Old Fort Myers Cemetery, but the identities of many of the soldiers remain unknown. Some 21 are known and they will be celebrated during the Memorial Day service.
“One of the mandates of Camp No. 2 is to educate the general public at large as much as possible, beginning with the veterans that fought here and their memory and their work,” said Barie.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture.
