FACTS ABOUT JOHN J. PERSHING

1. After graduating from high school, he taught African-American students.
2. After attending West Point, he became a second lieutenant in the 6^th Cavalry. He served in the west in campaigns against Geronimo and the Apaches.  The 6^th was involved in the Ghost Dance Campaign, but it was not at the Wounded Knee Massacre.
3. In 1895, he became an officer in the 10^th Cavalry (the “Buffalo Soldiers”). Later, he led his troopers up Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War.  He was described as “cool as a bowl of cracked ice.”  He was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery that day.  His role was portrayed in the movie “Rough Riders”.
4. He got his nickname “Black Jack” while teaching tactics at West Point. As a teacher, he was considered unreasonably strict by his students. They began called him “N***** Jack” in reference to his Buffalo Soldier days.  This was softened to “Black Jack”.
5. From 1899-1903, he served in the Philippines against rebels. In the Battle of Bud Bagsak, he led an assault on a strong enemy position.  In 1940, for his 80^th birthday, FDR awarded him the Silver Star. 
6. While in the Philippines, Pershing wrote about the policy of burying Muslim dead with dead pigs to intimidate live rebels. He did not actually order this or participate in it.  Later, candidate (and later President) Trump claimed that Pershing terrorized insurrectionists by executing 49 prisoners with bullets dipped in pig’s blood and letting the 50^th go to tell the story.  There is no proof for this canard.
7. In 1906, he was promoted from captain to brigadier general over 862 senior officers.
8. In 1915, while he was in Mexico chasing Pancho Villa, his wife and three daughters were killed in a fire. Only his son survived.  It has been said that Pershing never smiled after this.
9. His leadership in WWI is controversial. He insisted on keeping American units (except the black units which he willingly gave to the French army) together in an American army.  This despite the dire need the Allies had for reinforcements in facing the scary German offensives in 1918.  Pershing did relent a bit when the Germans approached Paris, but he was very stubborn throughout the war.  Another problem was his naïve insistence on “open warfare” as opposed to the trench warfare that the war had settled into.  Pershing had high confidence in the riflemanship of the doughboys and felt rapid movement would break the stalemate.  He thought frontal attacks with little artillery support would overcome German machine guns.  He was wrong and the casualties were high.  The Allies and Germans shook their heads over this.  Seems like he could have learned from their experiences.  Pershing was the only Allied leader who opposed the armistice.  He strongly believed the Allies should continue pushing the Germans until they surrendered unconditionally.  To implement this belief, he did not call off the dogs on Nov. 11, even though he knew the cease-fire was scheduled for 11 A.M.  The AEF suffered 3,500 unnecessary casualties.
10. He became the first six-star general (General of the Armies) after the war. Later, Washington was promoted to this.
11. He was engaged to George Patton’s sister “Nita”, but being away for WWI ended the engagement. In Paris, he met an artist named Micheline Resco.  They had an affair and exchanged love letters for the next 30 years.  He was 35 years older than her.  In 1946, as he resided in Walter Reed Hospital, they got married.  He died two years later.

https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/11-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-john-j-pershing/#:~:text=Pershing%2C%20whose%20military%20career%20included,until%20his%20death%20in%201948.

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/john-j-pershing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing