John J. Pershing

American military leader

• Born: January 13, 1860
• Birthplace: Laclede, Missouri
• Died: July 15, 1948
• Place of death: Washington, D.C.

A career soldier, Pershing was ready when called on to lead the American Expeditionary Force to Europe in World War I, helping preserve democracy in the first global conflict.

Early Life

The eldest of John Pershing and Elizabeth Pershing’s nine children, John Joseph Pershing was born in the year preceding the outbreak of the Civil War. Tensions ran high in this midwestern state, and Pershing’s father suffered for his staunch support of the Union, which he served as a sutler. Pershing early aspired to a career in law, and initially his goal appeared attainable. A brief period of postwar prosperity, however, soon gave way to virtual bankruptcy for the family, and when Pershing’s father gave up storekeeping to work as a traveling salesperson, John took to farming and odd jobs. One of them, as janitor for the nearby black school in Prairie Mound, led to a permanent position as a teacher there. In 1882, he attended the Normal School in Kirksville, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in elementary didactics. That same year, he took the test for appointment to the United States Military Academy and received a nomination. To meet the age limitation for entrants, he changed his birth month from January to September.

After a month in a Highland Falls, New York, preparatory school, Pershing enrolled with 129 other young men at West Point. Somewhat older than his classmates, he commanded their respect, holding his five-foot ten-inch frame ramrod-straight and casting a stern glance at the world from steel-gray eyes; the mustache and silvered hair would come later. Pershing proved an adequate student and a first-rate leader, whom schoolmates elected class president each year. In each of his four years, he held the top position for cadets, culminating in his selection as first captain of the Corps of Cadets in his final year. In 1886, he was graduated and commissioned a second lieutenant of cavalry.

Life’s Work

A career as a soldier did not hold great promise in the late nineteenth century. Pershing spent his first years with the Sixth Cavalry, fighting in the last of the Indian Wars. Later, he commanded a troop in the Tenth Cavalry, an all-black unit with whom Pershing gained unusually good rapport. His service on the frontier was broken by a tour at the University of Nebraska, where he transformed a slovenly cadet corps into one of the country’s finest detachments of college trainees. During his off-duty time, he earned a law degree and gave serious thought to resigning. In 1898, he returned to his alma mater as a tactical officer, instructing West Point cadets in the fundamentals of soldiering. In that year, troubles with Spain over Cuba erupted into a war, and Pershing sought duty with the force being organized to invade the Caribbean island. Unable to go to Cuba as a cavalryman, Pershing obtained a temporary assignment as a quartermaster. In that position, he gained important insight into the follies of the army’s system for providing supplies to its line units. That lesson was stored away for future use in Europe during the first global conflict of the twentieth century. Pershing was promoted to captain in 1901, fifteen years after he was commissioned. Because promotions were based on seniority, he expected little further advancement. The early years of the new century saw him in the Philippines, leading American soldiers in a pacification effort against nationals who resisted the United States government’s efforts to bring Western-style democracy to the islands. Pershing earned a reputation as a successful negotiator with Philippine leaders, and his remarkable march around Lake Lanao was noted not only in the Philippines but also in Washington, D.C. A tour on the newly formed general staff gave Pershing the opportunity to meet the woman he would eventually wed: Frances Warren, daughter of Wyoming senator Francis E. Warren, a Republican and member of the Senate’s military committee. Pershing and Frances were married in January, 1905, and left almost immediately for Japan, where Pershing was to serve as a military observer during the Russo-Japanese War. Then, in 1906, Pershing’s efforts on behalf of his country were generously rewarded. In an unusual move, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated the captain for promotion to brigadier general, allowing him to jump over almost a thousand officers senior to him and bypass the field grade ranks (major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel). The new general spent much of the next decade in the Philippines, returning to the United States for assignment at the Presidio, San Francisco, in 1914. Almost immediately, Pershing left for El Paso, Texas, to organize a force that would invade Mexico to capture the bandit Pancho Villa. While Pershing was in Texas, his family, which now included three girls and a boy, remained in California. On August 26, 1915, tragedy struck the Pershings. Coals ignited wax on the ground floor of their wood-frame quarters, and Frances and the three girls perished in the ensuing fire; only Pershing’s son, Warren, was saved. With stoic courage, Pershing made his way to California, accompanied the bodies to Wyoming for burial, then returned to his troops on the Mexican border. The Punitive Expedition that Pershing commanded from 1915 to 1917 was ostensibly organized in retaliation for raids conducted by Villa within the United States city of Columbus, New Mexico. Pershing’s force of twenty thousand men traversed the Mexican desert for months, while political negotiations continued between President Woodrow Wilson and the various factions trying to seize permanent control of the government in Mexico. The force withdrew in 1917, when the war in Europe forced Wilson to shift his attention to that region of the world. In May, 1917, Pershing was notified that he had been selected to organize an American force for duty with the Allied forces in Europe. Hastily assembling a small staff, he traveled to England and then to France, where he spent a year shaping a force that would ultimately consist of more than one million Americans. Handpicked subordinates wrestled with problems of obtaining supplies, coordinating troop movements, quartering the divisions and separate units, feeding and clothing the newly arrived recruits, and training men to survive as individuals and fight as units. Pershing’s time was occupied in constant inspections and in wrangling with Allied commanders, especially marshals Philippe Pétain of France and Douglas Haig of England, both of whom wanted to detail small American units for duty with French and British units already employed on line against the Germans. Convinced that Americans should fight in American units, commanded by American officers, Pershing held out against their constant requests. Only reluctantly did he finally commit some battalions of the First Infantry Division for duty with the French. His strategy paid off in the late summer of 1918, when the American First Army achieved smashing victories against the Germans along the Saint-Mihiel salient and then in the Meuse-Argonne area of France. The entrance of American forces into the war helped deal the final death blow to Germany’s hopes for conquest. In November, 1918, the Germans agreed to the terms of surrender, and Pershing was faced with the problems of dismantling the huge military machine he had worked so hard to assemble. For the better part of the next two years, he was engaged in returning troops to America and drafting detailed reports of the actions of his army during the war. In 1920, Congress passed a law designating Pershing general of the armies, allowing him to keep the four-star rank that had been bestowed on him temporarily while he was in command of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). There was some talk of Pershing running for president, and he allowed his name to appear on the ballot in the Nebraska primary as a favorite-son candidate; a poor showing convinced him, however, to abandon that campaign. In July, 1921, President Warren G. Harding and Secretary of War John Weeks named Pershing chief of staff of the army. In that position, the hero of World War I fought a three-year battle against the Congress and a large contingent of American people who wanted to return the American military to its prewar position: small and poorly funded. Pershing argued (in vain) for larger permanent forces and an active program to train men for future service through the National Guard and Army Reserve. Despite his pleas, the size of the army shrunk, its budget dwindled, and its capability to mobilize evaporated. In September, 1924, Pershing retired. The following years were far from quiet ones, though, since duty with various government commissions kept the general busy. In 1924, he served with the delegation trying to resolve the Tacna-Arica boundary dispute between Peru and Chile. He later served with the American Battle Monuments commission and continued to provide sage advice to his successors in the office of the chief of staff. In 1936, Pershing became seriously ill, but he recovered and once again offered his services to the country when America became embroiled in World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought his advice, and in fact Pershing helped convince the president to keep General George C. Marshall in Washington, D.C., rather than let him assume field command in Europe. Marshall, a protégé of Pershing who had been a key staff officer in the AEF, often consulted his mentor during World War II. Pershing received special honors when the Congress ordered a medal struck in his honor in 1946. He died on July 15, 1948. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, under a simple headstone, among the soldiers whom he had led in “the Great War.”

Significance

Pershing’s lifelong career of service to his country has secured for him a place among American military heroes. The epitome of the American soldier-leader, he was purposely self-effacing when placed in political circles, remaining true to the principle of military subordination to civilian control with great conviction. His efforts as a stern disciplinarian, a brilliant organizer of large forces, and a staunch believer in the capabilities of the American soldier were a vital element in the Allied success in World War I. In addition, his consistent support for the citizen-soldier helped set the model for future generations of planners and shaped the future of American military organization for the remainder of the century. Finally, his sagacious tutelage of subordinates such as George C. Marshall and George S. Patton provided America the military leadership it needed to rise to the challenge posed by Adolf Hitler and his confederates in World War II.

Bibliography

American Military History. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1969. Official history of American military involvement at home and abroad; includes accounts of the Indian Wars, the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, and World War I, providing excellent background and highlighting Pershing’s contributions when in command.

Goldhurst, Richard. Pipe, Clay and Drill: John J. Pershing: The Classic American Soldier. New York: Reader’s Digest Press, 1977. A solid biography that places Pershing’s actions within the larger context of American political enterprises. Detailed chapters on the Punitive Expedition.

Grotelueschen, Mark Ethan. The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Examines the American Expeditionary Force’s doctrine and methods of fighting, including Pershing’s command of the force.

Liddell-Hart, Basil Henry. Reputations Ten Years After. Boston: Little, Brown, 1930. Liddell-Hart’s chapter on Pershing provides an antidote to hagiographic portraits that were popular immediately after the war and points out Pershing’s difficulties in dealing with high-ranking officials of Allied forces.

O’Connor, Richard. Black Jack Pershing. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961. An objective biography, highly readable and informative, of modest length.

Smythe, Donald. Guerrilla Warrior: The Early Life of John J. Pershing. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973. A detailed, scholarly account of the early years of Pershing’s life through his participation in the Punitive Expedition.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Pershing: General of the Armies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986. Smythe’s definitive biography of Pershing focuses on Pershing’s role as commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and his tenure as chief of staff of the army.

Vandiver, Frank. Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing. 2 vols. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1977. A comprehensive biography, based largely on records in the Library of Congress, National Archives, and other collections. Places Pershing’s actions in the context of America’s coming of age as a world power.

Weigley, Russell A. A History of the United States Army. New York: Macmillan, 1967. A scholarly yet highly readable account of the growth of the American military establishment; chapter on World War I provides excellent summary of Pershing’s actions and an assessment of his accomplishments as commander of the American Expeditionary Force.

Welsome, Eileen. The General and the Jaguar: Pershing’s Hunt for Pancho Villa, a True Story of Revolution and Revenge. New York: Little, Brown, 2006. Recounts Pancho Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, and General Pershing’s subsequent search for Villa.