John Joseph Pershing was born in Derry Township, Missouri, the eldest son of a section foreman on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad and his wife. As he was growing up, his parents ran a store in Laclede, Missouri where in 1864 he witnessed first-hand the Civil War when Confederate raiders attacked the town. He entered West Point in 1882, was commissioned into the cavalry, and rose to command the A.E.F. in W.W. I. He died with the rank of General of the Armies in Washington DC in July 1948. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Frank E. Vandiver, Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing (College Station, TX: Texas A. & M. University Press, 1977), 1: 4-5.
Record Data
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Personal
