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General John J. Pershing was a distinguished military leader who commanded American forces in Europe during World War One.
These bite-sized perspectives highlight Pershing's earlier experiences that helped forge the formidable commander he became, his tenure leading the American Expeditionary Forces to victory, and his enduring legacy for the U.S. Army even after his retirement.
From fighting Native Americans in the West to elevating to General of the Armies, Pershing led a remarkable career at the forefront of seminal military events.
As a young cavalry officer in the American West, Pershing participated in several campaigns against Native American tribes resisting settlement, including the Sioux and Apache.
Fresh from West Point, Lieutenant Pershing served with frontier units like the 6th Cavalry, carrying out dangerous patrols and expeditions.
One engagement brought Pershing and the 6th into conflict with the Lakota Sioux in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee Massacre in December 1890.
Though Pershing did not participate in that tragic event, he did fight Lakota warriors days later when they attacked his unit's supply wagons.
During this skirmish and similar actions, the stern but talented young officer won recognition for his "coolness under fire."
Pershing also directed efforts to track down and forcibly relocate Cree refugees from the Plains wars into Canada.
Though controversial, these early Native American operations blooded the young officer, forging battlefield skills he would draw upon to rise rapidly in rank during subsequent postings.
Prior to rising to high command, Pershing briefly pursued legal studies and worked as an instructor training future officers.
While stationed at Fort Niobrara in Nebraska in 1891, Pershing enrolled at the University of Nebraska College of Law, earning his law degree in 1893.
Though he chose a military career over law in the long-term, this legal foundation likely aided the task-oriented Pershing later on.
After further postings, Captain Pershing was assigned to West Point in 1897 as Assistant Commandant of Cadets and tactics instructor.
Renowned as a strict disciplinarian, cadets under Pershing endured rigorous training but emerged well-prepared for service.
Their instructor likewise gained useful understanding of effectively developing military leaders.
This early teaching role whet Pershing's appetite for molding the U.S. Army's next generation, which he continued when commanding the AEF in World War I.
Prior to higher command, Captain Pershing served as a military attaché and observer in key Asian postings.
From 1905-1907, Pershing was stationed in Tokyo as an attaché to improve US-Japanese military relations.
Gaining valuable diplomatic experience, Pershing monitored Japanese capabilities while strengthening ties later important for wartime cooperation.
Detached in early 1904 to academic duties, Pershing soon returned to Asia as an observer embedded with Japanese forces in the Russo-Japanese War.
Pershing witnessed Japanese operations firsthand during this conflict presaging World War I tactics.
Though the solitary American observer within Japanese ranks, Pershing formed a bond with his hosts and a respect for their martial prowess from Manchurian battlefields.
These foreign posts expanded Pershing’s strategic outlook, aiding his rise back in America where he caught the eye of President Roosevelt through his abroad progress reports and would ascend to high command.
In 1916, Pershing entered the spotlight when President Wilson tapped him to lead a punitive expedition into Mexico seeking frontier bandit Pancho Villa (a leader of the Mexican Revolution).
After Villa's guerillas raided Columbus, New Mexico in March 1916, killing Americans, Wilson dispatched Pershing with 4,800 Regular Army troops plus logistical support into chaotic revolutionary Mexico.
Pershing's expeditionary force battled Villa's rebels and Mexican federal troops during the 11 month operation, entering 340 miles into Mexican territory.
Though failing to capture the elusive Villa, Pershing's expedition garnered him public praise for vigorously upholding national honor.
The mission also afforded Pershing useful command experience moving and supplying a brigade-sized force in a lawless, undeveloped country. This expedition tested abilities Pershing would soon employ on a larger scale in Europe after America's entry into World War I.
In 1915, personal tragedy struck Pershing while commanding the Presidio base in San Francisco, as a devastating fire killed his wife and young daughters.
On the night of August 27th, an accidental blaze erupted in the Pershing family home.
Frances Warren Pershing and three daughters aged 3 to 8, perished from smoke inhalation.
Only 5-year-old Warren Pershing survived the tragedy which garnered national attention focused on the bereaved officer.
After his family's funerals in Wyoming where Pershing had courted his politically connected wife, an unconsoled Pershing returned grimly to duty in California accompanied by his son and sister.
This crushing loss appeared to steel Pershing's stern character as he poured himself into military responsibilities during America's move towards war, ignorant of the greater command responsibilities he would soon shoulder.
As America mobilized for World War I, Pershing achieved acknowledgement as the top commander to lead U.S. forces in Europe.
Appointed commanding General of the American Expeditionary Forces in May 1917, he built and organized a multi-million man army from scratch while navigating strategic diplomacy with Allied powers.
Pershing rebuffed British and French efforts to subsume green American units into their veteran ranks.
He insisted on fighting as a distinct American army under his authority.
After initial hiccups, his earnest AEF came into its own during major offensives like Saint-Mihiel and the grisly 47-day Meuse Argonne battle helping crack German lines.
Though armistice stalled his final push to the Rhine, the AEF under Pershing's leadership was central in Germany agreeing to cease fire terms, validating his command after clashing with Allied generals advocating different strategies.
America embraced its martial prowess through the AEF and its indomitable commander.
On the Western Front, General Pershing personally planned and directed American offensives punching through German positions in 1918.
At St. Mihiel in September, Pershing’s First Army cracked the German salient or bulging frontline on the hills there which had menaced Verdun for years.
Then in the Meuse-Argonne offensive from late September to November, Pershing threw over half a million doughboys against fortified German forces in the Argonne Forest.
Critics decried his reliance on costly frontal assaults against machine guns, although other factors like green American troops and Pershing’s subordinate’s errors also deserve blame.
Casualties proved severe, but American advances and tenacity helped convince the German High Command that with faster Allied advances elsewhere, continuation of the war was hopeless.
Soon came armistice and Germany’s surrender, validating Pershing’s key role planning the successful AEF blows that contributed mightily.
In recognition of his eminent wartime leadership, Pershing ascended in 1919 to General of the Armies, the U.S. military’s highest possible rank.
While a new rank almost akin to a six-star general, Congress and President Wilson elevated Pershing over all previous American generals.
Allowed to choose his insignia, Pershing selected four gold stars to denote his supreme status rather than add more stars.
The rank was created for Pershing alone and would lapse after his death rather than become an actively held position.
This honored the AEF commander but also reflected Pershing's popularity and political sway in post-war America.
Even long-serving Army Chief of Staff Peyton March felt it improper to outrank the esteemed war leader. Pershing stands alone holding an honorific apex rank befitting his unique place in U.S. military history after spearheading the million-man AEF to triumph overseas.
Riding high from war victory, General Pershing was prominently discussed as a potential Republican presidential nominee in 1920.
Having critics of the Wilson administration, Pershing enjoyed support from party leaders and average Americans who admired the renowned commander.
Though somewhat aligned with the GOP, Pershing himself remained nonpartisan.
When the idea of becoming a candidate emerged, Pershing refrained from campaigning or politicking in any form.
He said that though he would not refuse the Presidency if drafted, he would not actively pursue it or leverage his war record for political gain.
This stance contrasted drastically with the behavior of Allied commanders like Hindenburg and Foch who did run based on their fame.
Ultimately the 1920 Republican nomination went to Senator Warren G. Harding.
But the fact that Pershing was seriously considered underscores his recognition as the citizen-soldier par excellence in the American consciousness during the immediate post-war years.
Though Pershing retired in 1924, his General of the Armies rank maintained his titular seniority over later top American commanders.
During World War Two, the five star rank General of the Army was created for high generals—Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower and others.
Yet Congress legislated that Pershing’s unique rank continued to make him officially higher than these new generals, including his former aide Marshall who helped craft policy in Washington.
Marshall saluted Pershing on his birthday each year.
With nominal six star status, only George Washington was technically senior—promoted after death by Congress as General of Armies in 1976.
Though very much a ceremonial distinction in practice, this lingering rank precedence reflected Pershing’s continuing prestige even as the World Wars receded into history, outranking all still living who followed in his footsteps.
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