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CLASS OF 1886
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When
Captain Pershing married Frances Warren in
1905, he had served in the frontier cavalry,
taught at West Point, ridden with the 10th
Cavalry (Negro) in Cuba, and distinguished
himself in the Philippines. In 1906 he became
brigadier general, an unusual peacetime promotion
bestowed by his friend, the president, and
his father-in-law, Francis E. Warren, chairman
of the Senate Military Affairs Committee.
In August 1915, with Pershing in El Paso organizing
a hunt for bandits in Mexico, Frances and
their three daughters perished in a fire.
His son survived, but the tragedy made a hard
man even less compromising.
As American commander in France, Pershing
repulsed all attempts to replace Allied losses
with American troops. Vindicated by victory
only months after full-scale American assaults
began, Pershing became only the fourth five-star
general and a world-renowned figure.
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