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John and Frances Pershing pose with Helen, Ann, Warren, and the family cat . Library of Congress. The foremost military leader of his time, General John "Black Jack" Pershing (1860-1948) served in the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippines, the Mexican Intervention and World War I.
Frances Warren Pershing, wife of Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing, U.S.A., and three of her four children -- Mary, 6, Anne, 7, and Helen, 8 years old -- were suffocated in a fire in their quarters at ...
Wife of Gen. Black Jack John J. Pershing and daughter of Sen./Gov./Cabinet Member Francis Warren. Tragically killed with 3 of Pershing's 4 children in a San Francisco fire.
- 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...
Family, Personal Life, & Death. Pershing married Helen Frances Warren in 1905. On August 27, 1915, Pershing learned that his wife and three young daughters, Mary (aged 3), Anne (aged 7), and Helen (aged 8), had died in a fire accident in San Francisco. Only his 6-year-old son, Francis Warren, had survived.
During his next assignment in Washington, Captain Pershing met Helen Frances Warren, a recent graduate of Wellesley College and daughter of United States Senator Francis E. Warren of Wyoming. Though twenty years her senior, Pershing charmed Miss Warren.
Pershing returned to Washington in late 1903. He was introduced to Helen Frances Warren, daughter of an influential Wyoming Senator. This began a passionate and brief courtship that lasted until Pershing was assigned to serve as an observer of the Russo-Japanese War.
