The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-09-08

iQlllS CNSl yWllClG.
! his profession of arms more seriousl,
and to display the powers of concen
tration upon difficult problems tina
stood him in good stead in the great
campaigns that were to follow il
Europe. Attracted by his earnestness
and soldierly qualities, General Leon,
ard Wood, who was his superior off
Ger at tibet ime, selected Pershing tC
organize and conduct a campaign
against the Moros who for centuries
had successfully resisted all attempts
OF the Spanish army to subjugate
them.
Up to that point something of a
parallel may be found in the careers
of Wood and Pershing. Each had
made a brilliant reputation as Indian
fighters and each had been picked by
President Roosevelt for extraordinary
promotion because of their high PRO
mics of military ability, Roosevelt
had made Wood a brigadier general
in 1901, and he made Pershing, then
4 captain, "a brigadier general in 1906,
to the absolute CONSERVATION of the
old line OF the army because it invol-
we'd the jumping" of both officers
over many hundreds of their Seniors.
Pershing justified the confidence
that Wood had imposed in him in his
Moro campaign. There was a Sui
tan of Ia calod with unknown thous-
ands of followers intrencheu in the
marshes and mountains of the trop-
ical islands behind heavy forts of
palm wood, logs and giant creepers
and thorn bushes woven into what
was supposed to be impregnable de-
lenses. Pershing had made a study
of the conditions and so we'll had he
organized his little force consisting
of a battalion of infantry, a squad
ron of cavalry and section of artil-
lery that in two days the Moros
were cleared out and the
Island of Mindanao was soon placed
under Pershing's military governor
ship.
When he returned home in 1914 he
was given but a short rest in San
Francisco. Trouble began on the
Mexican border and he was sent
there in command of the Eighth Bri-
gade, charged with the special duty
of running down or driving off Villa.
His expedition penetrated many
miles into Mexico and army officers
believed that he ultimate capture of
Villa was prevented only by recall
orders from Washington where the
authorities decided that they were
to continue military poll
cy seeming certain to involve the
United States in regular war with
Mexico.
When Pershing was chosen to
command the American forces in
France, he took with him many of
the Drowned and hardened veterans
of his Mexican campaign and these
men formed the nucleus Of the ia
nous First division of the American
Force.
A terrible tragedy had come into
Pefshing1s life during his Mexican
border service through the loss of his
wife and three of their little children
who were burned to death in their
home at the Preside, in San Fran
cisco, during his absence. His life
became hard and stern; not towards
his soldiers, however, but in the reg
linen he imposed upon himself and in
the objects he had marked for attain
ment. He threw himself into his
work with a passion that commanded
success, evidently seeking relief from
his private grief in public service. 1t
was said of him in France that he'll
was never tired; he could be called
upon any hour out of the "a for con-
sultation or direction without COM
plant on lbs part, in contrast with,
some of his famous colleagues in the
Entente Armies. i
Pershing believed in teamwork; he
knew that whatever success the
Germans had attained was through
their unified command of the armies
of the Central Powers. So he was
not only willing but anxious to see
the same principle adopted by the
Entente armies. He sank his private
and freely rendered the
services of the last American soldier
and all his army, equipment to Gen
eral Foch at the most critical point,
in the campaign. There is said to be
no doubt that his example affected
the other commands and went al
long way towards bringing about the
of the Entente armies I'M
der Marshal Foch.
1t was not until Pershing was GER