Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-08

| WHEN SOnSEeSS COHleTTeu IIle per-
nanent rank of general upon John
]. Pershing he became the fourth
man to hold that coveted title in
the Army of the United States The
other three were Grant, Sheridan
and Sherman.
AS the central American figure
in the World War, with the single
| exception of President Wilson, so
much has been written about Per-
shing and his life and history are
SO fresh in the public mind that it
is difficult to tell the average Amer
| lean anything new about the man
who commanded the great Army on
the battlefield of Europe.
speak of his rise to a position of
great military importance in world
annals, they refer to u story quite
commonly told of Charles NJ
to have remarked to his old Scotch
gardener, friend of his childhood:
You never expected to see me
in this place, did you?"
And the gardener is said to have
replied:
You never expected it yourself"
Captain Mt Forty
AS late as the time of the Russia
Japanese war in 1904, Pershing,
| ONSI ~, SIlll WAS IL CupIaln IN the
Regular Army. His associates say
he never grumbled, but always kept
| plugging at his job. Reams and
reams have been written about how
he took a prominent part in the
pacification of the Philippine Islands
and how President Roosevelt made
him a brigadier general jumping
J him over the heads of exactly S62
other men who were senior to him
| on the service roll.
When Pershing took the punitive
expedition to Mexico after the BAN
! dit Villa, he became the only living
officer in the American army who
had commanded any body of troops
so large as brigade in anything ap-
proaching action. 1t is true that
the late General Funston command
ed more than a brigade on the Vera
| Cruz expedition but Funstons s
troops never got into action.
Full Share of Service
From the time Pershing grad
| uated from West Point in 1885 he
had his full share of active and
valuable service in the Army. Like
MS classmates he Immediately was
plunged into the Indian Wars. He
entered a campaign against the
| great Apache chief Geronimo who
for many years had kept the great
southwestern country almost closed
! to immigration by his skill and
| bravery 1t was in those cam
palgns that many young Amer
: lean Army officers received that
special training evolved in combat
| with the willy savages which proved
OF peculiar value in certain phases
or the highly scientific modern war
rare In France and Belgium. They
were taught the art of scouting, of
trailing and of perfect self-reliance
| in the school beyond the ken of
any European soldier and MANY n.
midnight raid by the Americans in
! to NO Mans Land doubtless found
I It's inception and clever execution
In the brain of one Of these one
time Indian fighters of Pershing's
| type.
1t is recorded officially of Per-
shing that at the beginning of his
career for instance, he was COM
plimented by General Miles, his
! commander-in-ch in the Geroni-
mo campaigns. for marching his
troops with pack train, over rough
country. 140 miles in As hours,
bringing in every animal and man
in good condition" Until he reach
ed rank Pershing always was a
| cavalry officer and the records of
the War Department show more
than one honorable mention for his
| conduct during his ten years serv-
ice In the Department of Arizona
! In the Spanish War as an officer of
the Tenth Cavalry he was promot-
ed Tor gallantry at the battle of Ell
| Caney to be major in the volun-
teer army and after a short detail
IN washington in the Bureau of
| a - ffatK
philippines as acknowledgement of
the Department of Mindanao and
Jolo.
Brilliant Fighter
| That was the turning point in
Pershing's career. He began to take
his profession of arms more seri-
ously and to display the powers of
concentration upon difficult prob
lens that stood him in good stead
In the great campaigns that were
to follow in Europe Attracted by his
earnestness and soldierly qualities,
General Leonard Wood, who was
his superior officer at the time, Sc
lected Pershing to organize and con-
Duct a campaign against the Moros
VINO for centuries had successfully
resisted all attempts of the Span
ish army to subjugate them.
UP to that point something of a
parallel may be found in the ca
reers of Wood and Pershing. Each
mad made brilliant regulations as
Indian lighters and each had been
picked by President Roosevelt for
extraordinary promotion because of
| their high promise of military abil-
lty. Roosevelt had made Wood q
brigadier general in 1901 and he
made Pershing, then a captain, a
orlgadier general in 1906 to the
| absolute CONSERVATION of the old
line of the Army because 1t involved
the jumping" of both officers over
many hundreds of their seniors.
Pershing justified the confidence
that Wood had imposed in him in
MS Moro campaign. There was a
Sultan of Bacalod with unknown
thousands of followers intrenched
| in the marshes and mountains of
the tropical islands behind heavy
forts of palm wood, logs and giant
creepers and thorn bushes woven
| into what was supposed to be i'm
pregnable defenses. Pershing made
study of the condition and so well
/ had he organized his little force
| consisting of battalion of infantry,
squadron of cavalry and q section
of artillery that in two days the
Moro's strongholds were cleared out
and the Island of Mindanao was
soon placed under Pershing's mili-
tary governorship.
Tragedy of His Life
| When he returned homo In 1914
| he was given but n short rest in
San Francisco. Trouble began on