General Blackjack Pershing Quotes

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„I want to see all of my people and speak to them so that we may forever be friends.“

General

— John J. Pershing

General Blackjack Pershing Muslims

My Life Before the World War, 1860--1917: A Memoir, pp. 292-293 https://books.google.com/books?id=a74_JIbehzsC&pg=PA292
Context: I write you this letter because I am sorry to know that you and your people refuse to do what the government has ordered. You do not give up your arms. Soldiers were sent to Taglibi so that you could come into camp and turn in your guns. When the soldiers went to camp a Taglibi, your Moros fired into camp and tried to kill the soldiers. Then the soldiers had to shoot all Moros who fired upon them. When the soldiers marched through the country, the Moros again shot at them, so the soldiers had to kill several others. I am sorry the soldiers had to kill any Moros. All Moros are the same to me as my children and no father wants to kill his own children.... I want to see all of my people and speak to them so that we may forever be friends.

John Joseph 'Black Jack' Pershing is seen here in his Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army uniform (With gilded stars, a design Pershing chose himself, but it was never officially recognized by the U.S. Army), after his promotion to General of the Armies (The highest rank in the U.S. Pershing quotes Popularity: “A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops.”.

General of the Armies John Joseph 'Black Jack' Pershing was a senior United States Army officer. His most famous post was when he served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front in World War I, 1917–18. General of the Armies John Joseph 'Black Jack' Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948) was a senior United States Army officer. His most famous post was when he served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front in World War I, 1917–18. “The representatives of business interests are the men to start this enterprise among our people and bring them to a full realization of the very grave seriousness of this war, to make them feel that we are in this war to win, and the probability is that our entering this war is going to be the deciding factor, and that the burden of the success is going to rest upon the United States.”.

One hundred years ago this spring, the American Expeditionary Forces entered World War I under the command of General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, who had also led the famous 10th Cavalry Regiment of African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” during the Indian wars and the Spanish-American conflict. In fact, “Black Jack,” his nickname, was initially an insult leveled against John Pershing for leading African-American troops.

However, while many people may know these and other facts about General Pershing’s distinguished military career, few have heard about the devastating deaths of his wife and three daughters.

Pershing married Helen Frances Warren, the daughter of Wyoming Senator Francis E. Warren, in 1905. She was a Wellesley graduate and some twenty years his junior, but most historians suggest she was enamored of the adventurous officer. Senator Warren defended his son-in-law when a scandal erupted over an affair Pershing was alleged to be having with a local woman in Mindanao, the Philippines, where he served as a military officer after the Spanish-American War.

Other stories suggest Pershing’s rivals fabricated the story in retaliation for President Theodore Roosevelt’s promoting Pershing to brigadier general over some 862 higher ranking officers. Pershing’s critics charged that his prominent father-in-law helped secure the promotion. Regardless, the general’s defenders argued that T.R. admired Pershing and had planned to promote him three years earlier. Whatever the truth may be, the Pershings appeared to be a happy family despite long separations when the general commanded remote posts.

In 1915, Mrs. Pershing and their four children were living at the Presidio in San Francisco while the general was stationed in El Paso, Texas, on the eve of Pancho Villa’s border town raids. Before Pershing would set off in pursuit of Villa, he would experience a devastating family tragedy. On August 27, 1915, Pershing’s wife and three daughters—ages nine, seven, and three—would die in a house fire that engulfed their Presidio home. A few other inhabitants of the home, including the Pershings’ five-year-old son Warren, managed to escape the blaze. The fire started when hot coals from the fireplace popped out on to the heavily waxed floor.

General

A day after the fire, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Timesall reported that the family might have survived had “flimsy construction” and government “red tape” not been a factor. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department told reporters that a standing order prohibited Presidio officials from summoning the city fire department “until an effort had been made to subdue the blaze.” Significantly, in the three years before the Pershings died, nine other people had lost their lives in Presidio fires. However, whether Pershing’s wife and children could have survived is a matter of speculation. When General Pershing saw the charred ruins of the house, he reportedly said, “They had no chance.”

When members of the military are ordered into a combat theater, their families worry they will face serious peril or even death. In addition to the dangers combat personnel face, however, soldiers worry about the threats and dangers their loved ones back home may encounter. One can only imagine Pershing’s sorrow and guilt about the fire. Even an influential general of his caliber could not protect his family from shoddy workmanship, bureaucracy, and fate.

General Black Jack Pershing Quotes

Devastated, Pershing immersed himself in his work. Less than two years after the fire, he would lead the Allied Expeditionary Forces in the final year of World War I. His efforts would prove decisive in the defeat of the Central Powers.

General John J Pershing

Although he would be romantically linked with a number of women during the remainder of his life—including George S. Patton’s sister—he would never remarry.

Warren Pershing, the only family member who survived the fire, went on to graduate from Yale University. He enlisted as a private in the United States Army and fought in World War II. He died in 1980 at the age of 71.

General Blackjack Pershing Biography

General Pershing died in 1948, at the age of 88. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His wife and daughters are buried in Cheyenne, Wyoming.