Background
FUNSTEN, David was born on October 14, 1819 in Clarke County, Virginia, United States, United States.
FUNSTEN, David was born on October 14, 1819 in Clarke County, Virginia, United States, United States.
Private school, northern university.
He attended boarding school in Alexandria and graduated from Princeton in 1838. He was a lawyer in Alexandria for nearly twenty years prior to the Civil War. Funsten served one term in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1844.
When the war began, he enlisted as a captain of the infantry in the 11th Virginia Regiment. Promoted to colonel in the spring of 1862, he left the army the same year after receiving a wound at Seven Pines which permanently disabled him. Funsten spent the remainder of the war as a member of the first and second Confederate House of Representatives.
He was elected from the Ninth Virginia Confederate Congressional District. In the first House, he served on the Printing Committee and the special committee to inquire into illegal arrests. In the second House, he was a member of the Committees on Compensation for Patents, Flag and Seal, and Illegal Seizures, as well as the Joint Committee of Naval Affairs.
In December 1864, he sponsored a measure to consolidate regiments and companies to facilitate the development of the troops. He was a protector of local interests but supported the Davis administration. He practiced law again in Alexandria when the war ended.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.