John J. Pershing
John Joseph Pershing was born on a farm near the town of Laclede, Missouri. John's father, John Fletcher Pershing, was a local businessman who owned a general store in Laclede and moved his family into the town at the start of 1861. When the American Civil War began, John Fletcher Pershing worked as a sutler for the 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment, but himself did not serve in the military nor participate in combat.
John J. Pershing attended a small school in Laclede that was seen as a "select school" and reserved for the more intelligent children who were sons and daughters of high profile citizens. As Pershing's father was a well known businessman in the Laclede area, both Pershing and his brother attended this early form of preparatory school.
Upon graduation from secondary school in 1878, Pershing became a local teacher and became involved with educating local African American children. Through his experience Pershing developed an understanding of racial issues that would later come to play in his military career, when he commanded an African American unit of soldiers.[citation needed]
Between 1880 and 1882, Pershing attended the First Missouri Normal School in Kirksville, Missouri, later Truman State University. In the spring of 1882, already twenty one years old, Pershing applied to the United States Military Academy after hearing that West Point offered an excellent college level education. Pershing would later admit to his sister that a desire to serve in the military was secondary to attending West Point and that he mainly applied to the school because the education offered was better than that of rural Missouri at that time.
John J. Pershing was sworn in as a West Point cadet in the fall of 1882. He was selected early for leadership and rose to become First Corporal, First Sergeant, First Lieutenant, and First Captain, the highest possible cadet rank at West Point. Ex Officio of his position, Cadet First Captain Pershing commanded the West Point Honor Guard that escorted the funeral of President Ulysses S. Grant.
Pershing graduated from West Point in the summer of 1886 and was commended by the Superintendent of West Point, General Merritt, as having high leadership skills and possessing "superb ability".
Just prior to graduation, Pershing briefly considered petitioning the Army to let him study law and delay his commission. He applied for a furlough from West Point, but soon withdrew the request in favor of active Army duty. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army in the fall of 1886, at the age of twenty six, graduating thirtieth in a class of seventy seven from West Point. His father died on April 5, 1886. His mother died a week and a half later, much to his dismay.
In January 1914, Pershing was assigned to command the Army 8th Brigade in Fort Bliss, Texas, responsible for security along the U.S.-Mexico border. In March 1915, under the command of General Frederick Funston, Pershing led the 8th Brigade on the failed 1916–17 Punitive Expedition into Mexico in search of the revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. General Pershing was assigned a 1915 Dodge Brothers touring car, serial number 3066. During this time, George S. Patton served as one of Pershing's aides.
After a year at Fort Bliss, Pershing decided to bring his family there. The arrangements were almost complete, when on the morning of August 27, 1915, he received a telegram telling him of a tragic fire in the Presidio of San Francisco, where a lacquered floor blaze had rapidly spread, resulting in the smoke inhalation deaths of his wife and three young daughters. Only his six-year-old son Warren was saved. Many who knew Pershing said he never recovered from the deaths of his wife and daughters. After the funerals at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Pershing returned to Fort Bliss with his son, Warren, and his sister Mae, and resumed his duties of commanding officer.
It was following this tragic event that the problems in Europe were going to shape his life.