E-text prepared by Emmy, D Alexander, and the Project Gutenberg Online
Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 31914-h.htm or 31914-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/31914/pg31914-images.html)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31914/31914-h.zip)
Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
http://www.archive.org/details/storyofgeneralpe00toml
THE STORY OF GENERAL PERSHING
[Illustration: General Pershing.]
THE STORY OF GENERAL PERSHING
by
EVERETT T. TOMLINSON
Author of "Fighters Young Americans Want to Know," Etc.
[Illustration]
Illustrated
D. Appleton and Company
New York London
1919
Copyright, 1919, by
D. Appleton and Company
Printed in the United States of America
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE writer gratefully acknowledges the aid he has received in the
preparation of this book. To President Greene and Mr. J. E. Bell of
William Jewell College, Missouri, he is under special obligations. Mr.
Bell in order to aid the writer spent several days in Linn County,
Missouri, verifying and obtaining facts. To Mr. Herbert Putnam of the
Library of Congress, Mr. John Cotton Dana of the Newark, New Jersey,
Public Library, and to Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick of the St. Louis Public
Library he owes a special debt of gratitude for bibliographies and
carefully prepared suggestions as to sources of information. From
Cashin's "Under Fire with the 10th U. S. Cavalry," Missouri State
Historical Review, Reports of the War Department and other publications,
selections and citations have been made and from the facts contained in
dispatches from France, particularly the very excellent reports in the
New York _Times_ and New York _Sun_, the writer has obtained valuable
information. The direct aid of United States Senator Frelinghuysen in
obtaining data from the War Department and the suggestion of United
States Senator Warren have been most helpful. Replies to questions sent
to friends and relatives of the General have assisted in verifying
certain facts and figures. Many who personally knew the great commander
in his younger days have very kindly given the writer such help as lay
within their power. He gladly recognizes his indebtedness, especially to
the following persons: Mr. Charles Spurgeon, Brookfield, Mo.; Judge O.
F. Libby, Bigger, Mo.; H. C. Lomax, Esq., Laclede, Mo.; S. E. Carothers,
Waco, Tex.; Mr. Robert S. Huse, Elizabeth, N. J., whose father was the
"splendid old Caleb" of the Highland Military Academy; Hon. E. W.
Stephens, Columbia, Mo.; Mrs. Louisa D. Warren, Meadville, Mo., and Mr.
Wesley L. Love, Brookfield, Mo. Major James E. Runcie, Librarian of the
United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y., and General P. C.
Harris, acting the Adjutant General, have both been exceedingly kind in
providing and verifying certain items of information which otherwise it
would have been difficult if not impossible to obtain. The writer wishes
to thank all these good people who have helped to make even the
gathering of data an inspiration. Articles appearing in many current
magazines and newspapers have provided interesting items, but the writer
has quoted from them only after verification of certain details.
PREFACE
THE purpose of the writer of this little book is merely to tell the
story in outline of the career of the commander of the American
Expeditionary Forces in France. The modesty of General Pershing has kept
his name out of print to a greater extent than in the case of many of
our prominent men. His advancement also came rapidly in these recent
years. As a result of these two conditions many of the fellow countrymen
of the General are not familiar with the story of his early life or his
successful work in the Philippines. This they not only have a right to
know, but they ought to know.
The writer has endeavored to tell the story briefly as it has been told
him, or as it has been kept in the records of the War Department and
elsewhere. The complete biography and the analysis of General Pershing's
personality and military career he leaves to later writers. The simple
story of the struggles and achievements of a more or less typically
successful American is presented, with the hope that others also may
find in the record the inspiration and interest which the writer has
found. Sometimes fighting against obstacles that appeared almost
insurmountable, struggling to obtain an education in the schools, not
faltering when tragic sorrows came, his determination succeeding in
military campaigns where previous centuries of fighting had failed--the
career of General Pershing has been a continuous overcoming. Confidence
in a great leader is an essential condition of victory and the writer
has tried to present facts to show that the trust of the American people
in their military leader is well founded.
Some years ago a certain tight-fisted denizen of the United States
inquired sneeringly of a young man from his village, who was working his
way through college, "What do you expect to make of yourself anyway?"
Instantly came the reply, "A man." Cause and effect, aim and incentive,
object and motive alike are all slimmed up in that response. Behind the
General is the man whose story the writer has tried to tell just as he
has found it.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I A HISTORIC MOMENT 1
II BIRTH AND EARLY HOME 7
III BOYHOOD AND STUDENT DAYS 22
IV FIGHTING THE APACHES AND THE SIOUX 44
V A MILITARY INSTRUCTOR 56
VI IN THE SPANISH WAR 65
VII IN THE PHILIPPINES 86
VIII SUBJECTING THE MOROS 96
IX IN PURSUIT OF VILLA 118
X CALLED TO COMMAND THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES
IN FRANCE 131
XI WHY AMERICA WENT TO WAR WITH GERMANY 149
XII IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE 161
XIII AT THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON 171
XIV A WREATH FOR THE TOMB OF LAFAYETTE 181
XV FOURTH OF JULY IN FRANCE AND BASTILE DAY IN AMERICA 193
XVI INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS 203
XVII WHAT OTHERS THINK OF HIM 225
XVIII AS A WRITER AND SPEAKER 238
XIX THE MAN BEHIND THE GENERAL 242
XX HIS MILITARY RECORD 257
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
GENERAL PERSHING _Frontispiece_
THE HOME OF THE PERSHINGS, LACLEDE, MISSOURI 10
GENERAL PERSHING AS A BOY 22
THE CHURCH THE PERSHINGS ATTENDED AT LACLEDE 28
THE PRAIRIE MOUND SCHOOL 28
THE HIGHLAND MILITARY ACADEMY 34
UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, WEST POINT, N. Y. 34
COL. HUSE, "SPLENDID OLD CALEB" 40
KIRKSVILLE, MO., STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 40
THE LIEUTENANT IN THE FAMILY 46
GENERAL FOCH AND GENERAL PERSHING 254
THE STORY OF GENERAL PERSHING
CHAPTER I
A HISTORIC MOMENT
THE morning of June 13, 1917, was one of the historic mornings in the
history of the world. On the landing dock at Boulogne, France, a
detachment of French infantry was drawn up in line. The men were clad in
the uniform of battle. Their faces confirmed the report that recently
they had seen hard service in the trenches--as they had. Not a young
soldier was in the lines--they were all middle-aged men, perhaps made
older by the fearful experiences through which they recently had
passed. This morning, however, there was an air of eagerness and
expectancy in the expressions on their faces; and the eyes of all, with
an intentness that was at once pathetic and tragic, were watching a boat
that was drawing near the landing stage.
In the assembly on the dock an observer would have seen certain of the
great men of France. There were Brigadier General Pelletier; Rene
Bernard, Under Secretary of State for War; General Dumas; General Dupon,
representing General Petain; and the military governor of Boulogne.
Representatives of other nations and forces also were in the midst of
the eager throng. There, too, were Sir George Fowke, representing
General Sir Douglas Haig; and Captain Boyd, Military Attache of the
American War Department. Men, resplendent in their uniforms and
decorations, who represented the British and French navies, also were in
the assembly, all as deeply interested as were their military comrades.
The nearby streets were filled with people waiting and subdued, and yet
in a state of mind that at any moment would have carried the great
assembly into the wildest enthusiasm.
The cause of the excitement was to be found in a little group of men
assembled on the deck of a steamer that was slowly approaching the dock.
In the center of the group stood a man in the uniform of the United
States Army. He was six feet in height, broad shouldered, trim-waisted,
muscular and wiry. His hair was gray and his closely cropped mustache
was also tinged with gray. His dark eyes were glowing, though every
nerve and muscle was under the control of his will--a will that was as
strong as his prominent chin and nose indicated. It was the first time
in the history of the world that an American soldier was landing in
Europe, there to fight for his own country and for the liberty of the
world. There is slight cause for wonder that a murmur ran from one to
another in the expectant crowd: "Truly here comes a man!" And the man
was to be followed by millions, clad in the uniform of the land from
which he came.
We may be sure that when this soldier, General John Joseph Pershing,
stepped ashore and General Dumas greeted the American in the words, "I
salute the United States of America, which has now become united to the
United States of Europe," there was a cause for the deep emotion that
manifested itself in Pershing's dark eyes. It was, as he said, "a
historic moment." As he greeted the French colors, the detachment of
brave men that had recently come from the firing line stood immovable
like men of steel, and the American general slowly passed down the line,
his face alone still betraying his feeling over the deep solemnity of
the moment. And what a moment it was! Their dead had not died in vain,
their heroic struggle against barbarism, all the sorrows and losses the
devoted French people had borne were now focused on the coming of an
American general and his staff. For behind him was America, and she was
coming too.
And this American general, with his staff of fifty-three officers and
one hundred and forty-six men, including privates and civilian attaches,
stood before the beholders as the fore-runners of a mighty host which
was determined to help clear the world of the German menace to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. General Pershing, the fifth full
general of the United States, is the successor to Washington, Grant,
Sherman and Sheridan. So modest has been his career, so great his
reluctance to appear in print, that many, even in his own nation, are
not familiar with the deeds he has done. He has not sought promotion,
but promotion sought him. Apparently, at times, in far away provinces,
he has been banished to obscurity. Seven years passed before he was
raised from the rank of a second lieutenant to a first lieutenancy, and
yet the year 1917 found him in command of the American Expeditionary
Forces in France, the first leader of American troops to land with drawn
swords on the soil of Europe. The record is marvelous and it is also
inspiring. What manner of man is this commander? What is the story of
his life? Who were his father and mother? Where did he come from? How
did he develop the powers that led one American President to advance
him eight hundred and sixty-two points at one time and caused another
President to select him as the one man to command the soldiers of the
United States in France? What are his qualifications--mental, moral and
physical?
This story is an attempt to answer these questions in such a manner that
the people of his own land may be able to understand a part at least of
the career of the man behind the general. It does not try to analyze
critically the military career of General John Joseph Pershing, nor does
it primarily portray the development of the soldier. It is rather a
modest recital of the leading events in the life of Pershing, the man,
who became Pershing, the General.