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- On March 9, 1916, spurred by events in the Mexican Revolution, General Francisco "Pancho" Villa's forces attacked the camp of the 13th Cavalry Regiment. In reaction to this attack, President Woodrow Wilson appointed General John Pershing as commander of a U.S. Army expeditionary force that was to capture Villa and police the U.S.-Mexico border.
americanhistory.si.edu › explore › storiesGeneral Pershing's Mexican Expedition to capture Pancho Villa ...
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Apr 1, 2024 · John J. Pershing (born September 13, 1860, Laclede, Missouri, U.S.—died July 15, 1948, Washington, D.C.) was a U.S. Army general who commanded the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I. Pershing graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1886.
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John J Pershing was insistent that the American Expeditionary Force remain an independent American command, entire and whole, and not be amalgamated piecemeal into the British and French armies. President Wilson’s orders to Pershing, via Newton Baker, stated,
- Biography
- Military Career and Pre-World War I Military Campaigns
- Heroics in World War I
- Accomplishments of John J. Pershing
- Personal Life
- Death
- Legacy
- Did You Know?
Pershing was born the first of nine children in September 1860 to farmer John Fletcher Pershing and homemaker Ann Elizabeth Thompson. As a teenager, he had to take care of the home and attend school while his father worked as a traveling salesman. In 1880, this brilliant student graduated from Kirksville Normal School with a Bachelor of Science deg...
Pershing started his career serving in the Sixth Cavalry, fighting Native Americans to protect the white settlers. He fought the Geronimo-led Apache in New Mexico and Arizona and he learned Apache dialects and Plains sign language. Pershing taught at the University of Nebraska and used the opportunity to get a law degree in 1893. He was promoted to...
The First World War started after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914, and the United States did not join the war until 1917. Pershing was appointed commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), the U.S. military troop sent to Europe by then-U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Hew was also promoted from Major General...
In 1919, General Pershing was honored by Congress with the rank of “General of the Armies.” This special honor allowed him to be on “active duty” for the rest of his life and continue to be available for assignments. He was the first American to be bestowed such an honor, although, in 1976, U.S. President Gerald Ford promoted George Washington, our...
In 1905, Pershing married Helen Frances Warren, the daughter of powerful U.S. Senator Francis E. Warren, a Wyoming Republican. By Helen, he fathered four children: Helen, Anne, Warren, and Mary Margaret. On August 27, 1915, his wife and three daughters were killed in a fire incident at their home at the Presidio in San Francisco. It is reported tha...
General Pershing died on July 15, 1948, of congestive heart failure at age 87 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was laid in state at the United States Capitol rotunda and given a state funeral. The general was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Pershing’s greatest accomplishment was the formation of the American Expeditionary Forces, without his military brilliance and involvement of the Americans in the first world war, the European allies could have been defeated. This American hero mentored officers who became significant figures in the Second World War such as future President Harry S...
Pershing’s son Colonel Francis Warren Pershing served during the Second World War. Warren’s sons John and Richard also served in the Vietnam War; unfortunately, Richard was killed in action on February 17, 1968. Pershing is the only person in the history of the United States to earn the rank of General of the Armies while still alive. The rank, whi...
Commander-in-Chief, American Expeditionary Force ↑. Pershing, now a full general, faced numerous problems trying to bring the AEF to France, the most pressing of which entailed amalgamation. The Allies, dubious of U.S. military preparedness, sought to amalgamate American soldiers and units into existing French and English units.
May 29, 2018 · Military leader. G eneral John Joseph Pershing is most famous for something he never said. The story goes that when he arrived in France in 1917, at the head of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), he dramatically declared, "Lafayette, we are here!"
By October 1917, Pershing had established the basic foundations for the AEF in the General Organization Project of July and the Service of the Rear (Line of Communication) Project (later to become the Services of Supply) of September.
When the Americans finally joined the war in Europe in 1917, Pershing's experience and charisma made him the logical choice to command the Allied Expeditionary Force.
