John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB (Hon) (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded buffalo soldiers, participated in  Indian Wars, the Spanish American War, saw action in the Philippians, was an observer in the Russo-Japanese War and Commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.

Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies. Pershing holds the first United States officer service number (O-1) and was regarded as a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton.

Pershing also carried controversy, including being a Lieutenant at Wounded Knee, Commanding troops to fight on after an armistice was signed in WW1 causing 3500 deaths, and refusing to allow black soldiers to fight in WW1, finally giving in and sending them to  serve with the French.

RANKING

• 1882: Cadet, United States Military Academy
• 1886: Troop L, Sixth Cavalry
• 1891: Professor of Tactics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 1895: Commanding Officer, 10th Cavalry Regiment
• 1897: Instructor, United States Military Academy, West Point
• 1898: Major of Volunteer Forces, Cuban Campaign, Spanish-American War
• 1899: Officer-in-Charge, Office of Customs and Insular Affairs
• 1900: Adjutant General, Department of Mindanao and Jolo, Philippines
• 1901: Battalion Officer, 1st Cavalry and Intelligence Officer, 15th Cavalry (Philippines)
• 1902: Officer-in-Charge, Camp Vicars, Philippines
• 1904: Assistant Chief of Staff, Southwest Army Division, Oklahoma
• 1905: Military attaché, U.S. Embassy, Tokyo, Japan
• 1908: Military Advisor to American Embassy, France
• 1909: Commander of Fort McKinley, Manila, and governor of Moro Province
• 1914: Brigade Commander, 8th Army Brigade
• 1916: Commanding General, Mexican Punitive Expedition
• 1917: Commanding General for the formation of the National Army
• 1918: Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces, Europe
• 1921: Chief of Staff of the United States Army
• 1924: Retired from active military service
• 1925: Chief Commissioner assigned by the United States in the arbitration case for the provinces of Tacna and Arica between Peru and Chile.

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (Britain)
* Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (France)
* Military Medal (France)
* Croix de Guerre with Palm (France)
* Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
* Croix de Guerre (Belgium)
* Order Virtuti Militari (2nd class - Commander's Cross) (Poland)
* Order of the White Lion (1st Class with Sword) (Czechoslovakia)
* Czechoslovakian War Cross
* Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Jade (China)
* Order of the Golden Grain (1st Class) (China)
* Order of the Redeemer (Greece)
* Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savoy (Italy)
* Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy)
* Order of the Rising Sun (Japan)
* Medaille Obilitch (Montenegro)
* Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I (Montenegro)
* Medal of La Solidaridad (1st Class) (Panama)
* Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun (Peru)
* Order of Michael the Brave (1st Class) (Romania)
* Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator (Venezuela)
* Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Karageorge with Swords (Serbia)

USA AWARDS
* Distinguished Service Cross
* Distinguished Service Medal
* World War I Victory Medal (with 15 battle clasps)
* Indian Campaign Medal
* Spanish Campaign Medal (with Silver Citation Star)
* Army of Cuban Occupation Medal
* Philippine Campaign Medal
* Mexican Service Medal
* Silver Star Medal
* Purple Heart
* Occupation of Germany Medal
* American Defense Service Medal
* American Campaign Medal
* World War Two Victory Medal.

OVERHAULED
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Elgin 465

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stem wind and set
sub second

Data
3/0 size, Do= 27.94mm
7 jewels
f = 18000 A/h

Remarks
1917-1927, 26000
open face calibre, model 3
bimetalic screw balance, Breguet hairspring
negative stem mechanism

THIS IS AN UNTOUCHED-UP
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08-1918

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4492429





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AROUND THE CRYSTAL EDGE

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GENERAL "BLACK JACK" PERSHING

Pershing was sworn in as a West Point cadet in the fall of 1882. He was selected early for leadership and became successively First Corporal, First Sergeant, First Lieutenant, and First Captain, the highest possible cadet rank. Pershing commanded ex officio the West Point Honor Guard that escorted the funeral of President Ulysses S. Grant.

Pershing graduated from West Point in the summer of 1886 and was commended by the Superintendent of West Point, General Wesley Merritt, for high leadership skills and possessing "superb ability" and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army in 1886, at age twenty-six, graduating 30th in a class of 77..

Pershing reported for active duty on September 30, 1886, and was assigned to Troop L of the 6th U.S. Cavalry stationed at Fort Bayard, in the New Mexico Territory. While serving in the 6th Cavalry, Pershing participated in several Indian campaigns and was cited for bravery for actions against the Apache. During his time at Fort Stanton, Pershing and close friends Lt. Julius Penn and Lt. Richard B. Paddock were nicknamed "The Three Green P's," spending their leisure time hunting and attending Hispanic dances. Pershing's sister Grace married Paddock in 1890.

Between 1887 and 1890, Pershing served with the 6th Cavalry at various postings in California, Arizona, and North Dakota. He also became an expert marksman and, in 1891, was rated second in pistol and fifth in rifle out of all soldiers in the U.S. Army.

On December 9, 1890, Pershing and the 6th Cavalry arrived at Sioux City, Iowa, where Pershing played a role in suppressing the last uprisings of the Lakota (Sioux) Indians. He participated as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Wounded Knee Massacre.

A year later, he was assigned as an instructor of military tactics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Pershing held this post until 1895.

On October 1, 1892 Pershing was promoted to first lieutenant and took command of a troop of the 10th Cavalry Regiment (one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments), composed of African-American soldiers under white officers. From Fort Assinniboine in north central Montana, he commanded an expedition to the south and southwest that rounded up and deported a large number of Cree Indians to Canada.

In 1897, Pershing was appointed to the West Point tactical staff as an instructor, where he was assigned to Cadet Company A. Because of his strictness and rigidity, Pershing was unpopular with the cadets, who took to calling him "Nigger Jack" because of his service with the 10th Cavalry During the course of his tour at the Academy, this epithet softened to "Black Jack", although, according to Vandiver, "the intent remained hostile." Still, this nickname would stick with Pershing for the rest of his life, and was known to the public as early as 1917.

At the start of the Spanish-American War, First Lieutenant Pershing was offered a brevet rank and commissioned a major of volunteers on August 26, 1898. He fought with the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) on Kettle and San Juan Hill in Cuba and was cited for gallantry. (In 1919, he was awarded the Silver Citation Star for these actions, and in 1932 the award was upgraded to the Silver Star Medal.)

In March 1899, after suffering from malaria, Pershing was put in charge of the Office of Customs and Insular Affairs which oversaw occupation forces in territories gained in the Spanish-American War, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.

When the Philippine-American War began, Pershing was either ordered or requested transfer to Manila. He reported on August 17, 1899 as a Brevet Major of Volunteers and was assigned to the Department of Mindanao and Jolo and commanded efforts to suppress the Filipino Insurrection. On November 27, 1900, Pershing was appointed Adjutant General of his department and served in this posting until March 1, 1901. He was cited for bravery for actions on the Cagayan River while attempting to destroy a Philippine stronghold at Macajambo.

In 1901, Pershing's brevet commission was revoked, and he reassumed his rank as captain in the Regular Army. He served with the 1st Cavalry Regiment in the Philippines. He later was assigned to the 15th Cavalry Regiment, serving as an intelligence officer and participating in actions against the Moros. He was cited for bravery at Lake Lanao. In June 1901, he served as Commander of Camp Vicars in Lanao, Philippines, after the previous camp commander had been promoted to brigadier general.

In June 1903, Pershing was ordered to return to the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt, taken by Pershing's ability, petitioned the Army General Staff to promote Pershing to colonel. At the time, Army officer promotions were based primarily on seniority rather than merit,[citation needed] and although there was widespread acknowledgment that Pershing should serve as a colonel, the Army General Staff declined to change their seniority-based promotion tradition just to accommodate Pershing. They would not consider a promotion to lieutenant colonel or even major. This angered Roosevelt, but since the President could only name and promote army officers in the General ranks, his options for recognizing Pershing through promotion were limited.
Pershing with his wife Helen and three of their children.

In 1904, Pershing was assigned as the Assistant Chief of Staff of the Southwest Army Division stationed at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In October 1904, he attended the Army War College, and then was ordered to Washington, D.C. for "general duties unassigned".

Since Theodore Roosevelt could not yet promote Pershing, he petitioned the United States Congress to authorize a diplomatic posting, and Pershing was stationed as military attaché in Tokyo in 1905. Also in 1905, Pershing married Helen Frances Warren, the daughter of powerful U.S. Senator Francis E. Warren, a Wyoming Republican and chairman of the U.S. Military Appropriations Committee. Some have indicated this union helped his military career.

After serving as an observer in the Russo-Japanese War, Pershing returned to the United States in the fall of 1905. President Roosevelt employed his presidential prerogative and nominated Pershing as a brigadier general, a move which Congress approved. In skipping three ranks and more than 835 officers senior to him, the promotion gave rise to accusations that Pershing's appointment was the result of political connections and not military abilities. However, many other officers supported Pershing and believed that, based on his demonstrated ability to command combat forces, the promotion to general, while unusual, was not unprecedented or out of line.

In 1908, Pershing briefly served as a U.S. military observer in the Balkans, an assignment which was based out of Paris. Upon returning to the United States at the end of 1909, Pershing was assigned once again to the Philippines, an assignment which he served until 1912. While in the Philippines, he served as Commander of Fort McKinley, near Manila, and also was the governor of the Moro Province. The last of Pershing's four children was born in the Philippines, and during this time he became an Episcopalian

In January 1914, Pershing was assigned to command the Army 8th Brigade (United States) in Fort Bliss, Texas, responsible for security along the U.S.-Mexico border. In March 1916, under the command of General Frederick Funston, Pershing led the 8th Regiment on the failed 1916–17 Punitive Expedition into Mexico in search of the revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. He had met him in 1913 when he invited him to Fort Bliss. During this time, George S. Patton served as one of Pershing's aides.

After a year at Fort Bliss, Pershing decided to take his family there. The arrangements were almost complete, when on the morning of August 27, 1915, he received a telegram telling him of a tragic fire in the Presidio of San Francisco, where a lacquered floor blaze had rapidly spread, resulting in the smoke inhalation deaths of his wife, Helen, and three young daughters. Only his six-year-old son Warren survived. Many who knew Pershing said he never recovered from their deaths. After the funerals at Lakeview Cemetery in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Pershing returned to Fort Bliss with his son, Warren, and his sister Mae, and resumed his duties as commanding officer..

At the start of the United States' involvement in World War I President Woodrow Wilson considered mobilizing an army to join the fight. Frederick Funston, Pershing's superior in Mexico, was being considered for the top billet as the Commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) when he died suddenly from a heart attack on February 19, 1917. Following America's entrance into the war, Wilson, after a short interview, named Pershing to command, a post which he retained until 1918. Pershing, who was a major general, was promoted to full general (the first since Philip Sheridan in 1888) in the National Army, and was made responsible for the organization, training, and supply of a combined professional and draft Army and National Guard force that eventually grew from 27,000 inexperienced men to two Armies (a third was forming as the war ended) totaling over two million soldiers.

Pershing exercised significant control over his command, with a full delegation of authority from Wilson and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. Baker, cognizant of the endless problems of domestic and allied political involvement in military decision making in wartime, gave Pershing unmatched authority to run his command as he saw fit. In turn, Pershing exercised his prerogative carefully, not engaging in issues that might distract or diminish his command. While earlier a champion of the African-American soldier, he did not champion their full participation on the battlefield, understanding widespread racial attitudes among white Americans generally, plus Wilson's reactionary views on race and the political debts he owed to southern Democratic law makers.

Pershing bowed to the racial policies of President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, and southern Democrats who promoted the "separate but equal" doctrine. African-American "Buffalo Soldiers" units were not allowed to participate with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, but experienced non-commissioned officers were provided to other segregated black units for combat service—such as the 317th Engineer Battalion. The American Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd and the 93rd Infantry Divisions were the first Americans to fight in France in 1918, albeit detached from the AEF and under French command. Most regiments of the 92nd and all of the 93rd would continue to fight under French command for the duration of the war.

In early 1918, entire divisions were beginning to serve on the front lines alongside French troops. Pershing insisted that the AEF fight as units under American command rather than being split up by battalions to augment British and French regiments and brigades (although the U.S. 27th and 30th Divisions, loaned during the desperate days of spring 1918, fought with the British/Australian/Canadian Fourth Army until the end of the war, taking part in the breach of the Hindenburg Line in October).



merican forces first saw serious action during the summer of 1918, contributing eight large divisions, alongside 24 French ones, at the Second Battle of the Marne. Along with the British Fourth Army's victory at Amiens, the Franco-American victory at the Second Battle of the Marne marked the turning point of the war on the Western Front.



In August 1918 the U.S. First Army had been formed, first under Pershing's direct command and then by Hunter Liggett, when the U.S. Second Army under Robert Bullard was created. After a quick victory at Saint-Mihiel, east of Verdun, some of the more bullish AEF commanders had hoped to push on eastwards to Metz, but this did not fit in with the plans of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, for three simultaneous offensives into the "bulge" of the Western Front (the other two being the Fourth Army's breach of the Hindenburg Line and an Anglo-Belgian offensive, led by Plumer's Second Army, in Flanders). Instead, the AEF was required to redeploy and, aided by French tanks, launched a major offensive northwards in very difficult terrain at Meuse-Argonne.



American successes were largely credited to Pershing, and he became the most celebrated American leader of the war. Critics,[who?] however, claimed that Pershing commanded from far behind the lines and was critical of commanders who personally led troops into battle.[citation needed] Douglas MacArthur saw Pershing as a desk soldier, and the relationship between the two men deteriorated by the end of the war. Similar criticism of senior commanders by the younger generation of officers (the future generals of World War II) was made in the British and other armies, but in fairness to Pershing, although it was not uncommon for brigade commanders to serve near the front and even be killed, the state of communications in World War I made it more practical for senior generals to command from the rear.




In 1919, in recognition of his distinguished service during World War I, the U.S. Congress authorized the President to promote Pershing to General of the Armies of the United States, the highest rank possible for any member of the United States armed forces, which was created especially for him and one that only he held at the time (General George Washington was posthumously promoted to this rank by President Gerald Ford in 1976). Pershing was authorized to create his insignia for the new rank and chose to wear four gold stars for the rest of his career, which separated him from the four (temporary) silver stars worn by Army Chiefs of Staff, and even the five star General of the Army insignia worn by Marshall, MacArthur, Bradley, Eisenhower, and H. 'Hap' Arnold in World War II (Pershing outranked them all).



In 1921, Pershing became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, serving for three years. He created the Pershing Map, a proposed national network of military and civilian highways. The Interstate Highway System instituted in 1956 bears considerable resemblance to the Pershing map. In 1924, then 64 years old, Pershing retired from active military service, yet continued to be listed on the active duty rolls as part of his commission as General of the Armies.

On July 15, 1948, Pershing died of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., which was his home after 1944. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery,[23] near the grave sites of the soldiers he commanded in Europe, after a state funeral.

No Insignia in 1886	Second Lieutenant, United States Army: August 1886
	First Lieutenant, United States Army: October 1892
	Brevet major of Volunteers, U.S. Army: August 1898
	Captain, U.S. Army (reverted to permanent rank): June 1901
	Brigadier General, United States Army: September 1906
	Major General, United States Army: May 1916
	General, National Army, Army of the United States: October 1917
	General of the Armies of the United States, Army of the United States: September 3, 1919 As there was no prescribed insignia for this rank, General Pershing chose the four stars of a full general, except in gold. The rank has been argued to be equivalent to "6-star" general. According to the biography Until the Last Trumpet Sounds by Gene Smith, Pershing never wore the rank on his uniform.