Pershing, John J. 1860-1948

PERSHING, JOHN J. 1860-1948

General, u.s. army, 19O6-1924

AEF Commander

Already well known for his masterful command of troops in Mexico in 1916, Gen. John J. Pershing led American troops in Europe during World War I, tipping the scales in favor of the Allies at a critical point in the war and thus ensuring their victory.

Early Life and Career

Born in Linn County, Missouri, on 13 September 1860, John Joseph Pershing entered West Point in 1882. During his final year he was appointed senior cadet captain and became president of his class, graduating thirtieth in his class in 1886. He served as a cavalry officer in New Mexico during campaigns against Apache chief Geronimo's warriors in 1886 and in South Dakota during skirmishes at Wounded Knee Creek against the Sioux in 1890 and 1891. In 1891-1895 he taught military tactics at the University of Nebraska, where he took a law degree in 1893. In 1897-1898 he taught at West Point, where the cadets nicknamed him "Black Jack" Pershing because of his strict disciplinary approach. He fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898, distinguishing himself on the field of battle. His colonel, T. A. Baldwin, said of Pershing that he was "the coolest man under fire I ever saw." From 1899 to 1903 and again from 1906 to 1913 Pershing served in the Philippines, where he headed American efforts to end resistance to American domination of the country by subjugating the Moros, a force of Muslim Filipinos on Mindanao Island. In 1903 he returned to the United States for service with the Army General Staff and attended the Army War College in 1904 and 1905. In February 1905 he married Frances Warren, daughter of Sen. Francis Warren of Wyoming, a member of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. Pershing's new political connections helped him to secure an assignment as military attaché in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. President Theodore Roosevelt promoted Pershing to brigadier general in 1906. Pershing was tested by personal tragedy in August 1915, when a fire in the Pershings' home at the Presidio in San Francisco claimed the lives of his wife and two of his three children.

Mexico

Following Francisco "Pancho" Villa's raid across the U.S.-Mexican border in March 1916, Pershing was placed in command of the punitive expedition that pursued Villa in Mexico from 16 March 1916 until 6 February 1917. Though Pershing and his soldiers failed to capture Villa, their relentless pursuit weakened his power and ruined his chances to rule Mexico. Pershing's military competence and his capacity to carry out orders caught the attention of President Wilson, and when the United States declared war on the Central Powers in the spring of 1917, Pershing was called to Washington, D.C.

"Over There."

In May he was appointed commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France and began overseeing the training of new military recruits and supplying them for battle. Under Pershing's command (he largely refused to allow U.S. forces to fall under the control of the British and the French) the troops of the AEF fought and died at the Marne, at Belleau Wood, at Château-Thierry, at Saint-Mihiel, and elsewhere on the Western Front. Pershing was determined to prove that his tactic of rapid movement and superior strength could break the stalemate of trench warfare, but at the Battle of Meuse-Argonne and elsewhere the lesson seemed to be that such maneuvers were ineffective against an opponent who was dug in and well-equipped. When swift movement was achieved, it often resulted in a loss of contact with supply lines. The main contribution of the AEF to the success of the Allies may have been that in a brutal war of attrition it contributed tens of thousands of fresh troops at a critical moment.

New Honors

In the aftermath of the victory in Europe, Pershing was appointed in September 1919 to the rank of general of the armies—the highest rank in the U.S. Army and one once held by George Washington. Pershing was army chief of staff from 1921 to 1924, when he retired from active service in 1924 at the age of sixty-four. In 1925 he served briefly as head of a commission seeking to resolve a boundary dispute between Peru and Chile, and during World War II he offered modest counsel to Gen. George Marshall. His Final Report (1919) and My Experiences in the World War (1931) tell the story of his war years, and the latter book won a Pulitzer Prize for history.

Sources:

Ruth Hill, John Joseph Pershing (Boston: Badger, 1919);

Richard O'Connor, Blackjack Pershing (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961);

Frederick Palmer, John J. Pershing, General of the Armies: a Biography (Harrisburg, Pa.: Military Service Publishing, 1948).