Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-07-15

duty in Washington in the later COS,
and then sent to West Point as an
instructor in tactics in 1897, post
in which the Spanish War found
him. He promptly resigned his
West Point appointment and joined
his troops at Chickamauga to play
an active part in the stirring cam
paign before Santiago and to share
in the glory won by Roosevelt's
Rough Riders at Ely Caney and San
Juan.
| 1t. Pershing was twice recon-
mended for brevet promotion for
gallantry in the Cuban campaign,
and was one of the four ofncers
singled out for special commando
ton.
! Back in Washington again after
the Santiago campaigning he was
given the rank of major in the Fed
eral volunteer force and assigned as
an ordnance officer to staff duty. He
organized the Insular Bureau, which
for years handled affairs OF the
Philippine Islands and Puerto Rico,
and in 1899 was recommended as a
ma ior of volunteers in the Adjutant
Generals Department and ordered
to the Philippines as adjutant gen.
eral of the district of Mindanao and
Jolo. His rank in the Regulars was
then that Of captain.
Spent Four Hectic Years.
Four hectic years of jungle night
ing, negotiating and constant actlV-
ity in the effort to subdue and es-
tablish friendly relations with the
wild Moro tribesmen followed.
To the west of Lake Lanao the
most prominent of the Moro chiefs,
the. Sultan Of Bacalan, still held
oft against American authority,
basing his operations on a strong
hold in the hills that had been
heavily fortified and was held by
the natives to be impregnable. There
were 600 wild tribesmen in this
force, and higher command decreed
that Maj. Pershing should subdue
il. He attempted to do so by
friendly means and failed. Then
he took the place by storm, intilct-
ing a punitive lesson never forgot
ten in the region.
He returned to Washington for
general staff duty in 1908, but soon
was given opportunity to widen his
military knowledge through assign
ment as attache with the army OF
Gen. Kuroki during the Russian
japanese war.
It was during this period that
two things occurred which were TO
have an everlasting influence upon
his life. He met Miss Frances War;
rem, daughter Of Senator Warren
OF Wyoming, and they were mar
ried in January, 1905. Almost at
the same time he found himself
the center of a bitter controversy
between the White House and a
group of opposition Senators, aris-
ing from an effort by President
Roosevelt to promote him to the
grade of brigadier general in the
Regular Army for his services in
subduing the Moros.
1t meant jumping him from cap
tain past the grades of major, lieu
tenant colonel and colonel, and
meant also that 300 regular off,
GERS would be passed over There
was much activity by friends of
these officers against the project
and cries of politics and pull"
Senator Warren at the time was
chairman of the Senate Military
Affairs Committee. But the Presi-
dent had his way~and Capt. PERISH
ing became a brigadier in 1906.
Province Pacified.
Sent back to the Philippines in
1909 to become Governor Of the
Moro Province, he promptly re-
verified to his previous idea that the
proper way to bring peace in the
region was to disarm the Moros
altogether. He sent out his edict
and several hundred resentful ma
tives retired to the stronghold on
Mount Dajo rather than give up
their weapons. Gen. Pershing
promptly surrounded the place with
his jungle fighters and on Christmas
Day, 1911, the place capitulated
They surrendered 40 other forts
without battle and by 1918 the last
of their resistance was ended and
the province pacified.
What they thought of the man
who did the work is indicated by
the fact that BLACK Jack" Pershing
was made a Moro "datto," a chief
tain with power of life and death.
As further evidence of their conf
dence in his "Reminiscences, the
chiefs he had subdued also made
him q judge of the tribes.
When he came home again, in
1914, he was stationed for a brief
time at the Preside, San Francisco,
then called back to active field work
as commander Of the mobile forces
in the Southwestern Department,
with a large share of the Mexican
border to watch. Since 1911 the
bulk of the mobile Army had been
on the border, and conditions were
such that he left Mrs. Pershing,
three little daughters and his young
son, Warren, to the greater comfort
LOT his quarters at San Francisco.