Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-09-16
FRIENDS EXPECT
PERSH|NG To PEN
HISTORY Of WAR
BY MALCOLM ELLIS
Copyright 1924, by the Consolidated Pres
ation-Special Leased Wire
to The Atlanta IOurnAO

BY MALCOLM ELLIS
Copyright. 1924 by the Consolidated PreSs
Acknowledgements Leased Wire
to The Atlanta Journal)
NEW YORK, Sept. 13.-Now that
he is the former commanding gen
eral of the United States armies,
General Pershing is expected by
some Of his intimates here to de-
vote at least a part Of his spare
time to putting the story of his life
between the covers of a book.
Such book would tell the story
of a boy, born in the home of a rail
road section foreman who ranks in
army history alongside Washington,
Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, and
the only man who ever held the title
of full general of the American
armies.
1t would be the story of a captain
in the Philippines who subdued the
Moros and brought himself to the
attention of a president who jumped
him over S62 officers to make him a
brigadier general because by law
he could not make him q colonel.
1t would the the story OF Funston's
second in command pursuing Villa
into Mexico after the Columbus raid.
The Fight at Ell Caney
1t would be the story of the four
starred man who directed the A f..
+. from ChaumOnt and the big auto
mobile that dashed from battlefield
to battlefield in France.
If its author were not too modest,
it would include also the dispatch
h a T1di
in turn to his superior after Perish
ing had let his battalion of negro
troops up the hill at Ell Caney. He
is the coolest fighter L ever saw in
my life,' the general told his supe-
rior.
Such a story would begin back
in Laclede, Mo, where PerShing
was born. He taught a negro school
at II, where, some legends have it,
he became known as BLACK Jack"
Then he taught a white school, In
a weekly paper he read the an
nouncement of a congressman that
competitive examinations for West
Point would be held Pershing and
one other boy survived the prelimi-
naries and were tied. Pershing
won by parsing he sentence. Il love
W l. I'LL, correctly. J. lie Olu0c DON
slipped up on ito run"
Pershing entered West Point old
er than most cadets, a brown skin
ned, six foot youngster OF %. Four
years later he emerged as senior
captain and was packed off to the
southwest where General Miles was
having trouble with Geronimo.
From General Miles, who was not
in the habit of commencing young
sters, the "shayetail'' won a com
mendatiOn.
Took Law Degree
When the Sioux war broke out in
the Dakotas, Pershing, only a lieu
tenant, commanded the Sioux scouts
and again won a special recommen-
dation for judgment and discre-
ton The Indian campaigns over,
he was detailed to the University of
Nebraska where one of his friends
was Charles G. Dawes, the young
lawyer Of Lincoln. He stucied law
and won his degree before he was
sent to West Point as a tactician,
still a first lieutenant.
Pershing applied for return to the
old tenth cavalry when the war with
Spain broke out. OF his record there,
his old colonel said: Il have been
in many fights and was all through
the Civil war, but on my word he is
the bravest man under fire l ever
saw" AS a major of volunteers, he
commanded a battalion of negroes,
but after the war reverted to his
rank of first lieutenant.
His fortieth year saw Pershing
just putting two bars on his shout
ders as adjutant. When the 100000
fanatical MoroS in the hills of Min
danaO grew troublesome, General
Chaffee sent him with commits
sion to pacify them. Two years aft
er Pershing landed in Mindanao he
was shaking hands with tribal chiefs
who bad had Notwithstanding the
Spaniards had not been able to give
them in 500 years. He ruled them
from his tent, quoting the MOham-
medan Koran and as he was order
ed away, back to the general staff
at Washington, they made him a dat
to, or war lord
Won A. e. r. Over Four
Back in Washington, Pershings
name had just been proposed for
brigadier and Roosevelt was think
ing it over. Army officers opposed
it because it defied all custom and
seniority After a year at desks,
which he disliked, he went to Japan
as military attache and was Ameri-
can observer with the Japanese army
in the Russo-Japanese war.
The death of a general had clear
ed the way for his promotion and
President Roosevelt sent his name
il - =
Philippines again. commanding the
department of Mindanao and Jolo
and later serving as governor of
the Mogos. They revolted against
giving up their arms and Pershing
had to break their heads to win
them.
In the height Of our Mexican trou-
bles Pershing returned to America,
commander of the eighth brigade
with quarters at the Preside. Four
months later he went to the border
to join Funston. Two years of
dreary routine of border patrol were
broken when President Wilson sent
him into Mexico after Villa. When
Funston died he was made major
general in command of the border.
Secretary Baker sat down one eve
ming at his home with the records
of all the general officers of the
army. America was on the brink
of war with Germany. The next
morning he submitted the name of
Pershing to the president, although
four generals outranked him. And
PerShing went TO France.