Sultan Black Jack Pershing

  By S. Craig Taylor, Jr.

Although he is best known to history as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War One, John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (1860 – 1948) led an unusual and exciting career before leading the "doughboys" to victory in France. A farmboy from Missouri, Pershing graduated from West Point in 1886 and was posted to the 6th U. S. Cavalry Regiment, an assignment that included campaigning against the last flickers of Apache resistance, rounding up Sioux refugees after Wounded Knee in late 1890, the final gory episode of the Indian Wars, and serving as a military instructor at Nebraska University. To give you an idea of what military service was like at the time, he was not promoted to first lieutenant until 1892.

He served with the 10th U. S. Cavalry Regiment starting in 1895, and acquired his "Black Jack" nickname for his association with the unit’s hard-bitten Black "Buffalo Soldiers". He was also an aide to General Nelson Miles (1839 – 1925 – a veteran of the Civil War and the Indian Wars on the Great Plains and then the commanding general of the army), a tactics instructor at West Point and earned a law degree in the years leading up to the Spanish-American War of 1898. As quartermaster of the 10th Cavalry at the Battle of El Caney/San Juan Hill, Pershing had the good fortune to be with his troopers as they mingled with Theodore Roosevelt’s (1858 – 1919) "Rough Riders" in a cheering, victorious throng, following the costly but successful assualt.

After recovering from a bout of malaria, Pershing entered a defining period of his life when, at his own request, he was transferred to the newly acquired Philippines Territory in September 1999. As a result of Commodore George Dewey’s (1837 – 1917) naval victory at the Battle of Manila Bay (May 1, 1898), the Philippines were ceded by Spain in the treaty ending the Spanish-American War. This was at the height of the period of colonialism and no stray speck of territory was safe from seizure, let alone a gem like the Philippine Islands. Official American policy was to protect the territory until it was ready for self-government. The Filipinos, small-statured but extremely tough, had been recruited as mercenary soldiers by Chinese emperors for centuries because of their martial reputation. They were already conducting a long-standing revolution against Spain when the Americans arrived, and, as soon as the U. S. intentions became known, started shooting at the Yanqui newcomers. Major General Arthur McArthur (1845 – 1912), the father of later famed general Douglas McArthur (1880 – 1964), commanded the American garrison in the early stages of the far-flung anti-insurgent campaigns.While American combat troops fought the Filipinos, an "American Anti-Imperialist League" was formed back home to protest the war and actually called on the soldiers to revolt against their commanders and refuse to fight. Against this backdrop, "Black Jack" arrived in a war where 2,811 battles and actions would be fought before the fighting ended. For his first year in the islands, he served as a staff officer and took the time to carefully study his opponents, learning to speak Moro dialects and even reading Arabic and studying the Koran.

Despite the Anti-Imperialists and the tough Filipino resistance, the war was winding down on most of the islands as American troops won most of the battles and secured the territory. Separate from most of the rest of the Philippines, the Moslem "Moros" on the large island of Mindanao were conducting their own revolt. Not only did their religion differ from the Catholic faith of most Filipinos, which their former Spanish overlords had tried to force them to observe, but the local chiefs, called "datus", were also religious leaders who ran a feudal society that practiced piracy and slavery on a large and profitable scale. The Moros lived in fortified enclaves called "cotas" that were made of thick, high mud wall perimeters with caves for habitation burrowed into their interior faces. Easy entry was only possible using exterior ladders that could be pulled inside when a cota was threatened. In 1901, Pershing accompanied a well-equipped reconnaissance in force on the island that led to a pitched battle. Only disciplined American firepower with their Krag bolt-action rifles saved the force as fanatical Moro warriors threw themselves at the outnumbered infantrymen. Any Moro warrior, waving his razor-sharp "kris" (dagger) or "campilans" (two-handed sword) or firing his antique but accurate rifle, could prove to be a dangerous and fanatical foe. The worst were the crazed "juramentados", sometimes high on drugs, with their hair cut short and their eyebrows shaved, who often would not go down with a single bullet. The powerful .45 pistol was developed to provide a weapon with the stopping power to knock down a "juramentado" in full career. Withdrawing back to the coast, the colonel in command thought that descretion was the better part of valor and headed back to headquarters, leaving Captain Pershing in charge of Camp Vicars, a base camp on high ground on the coast, with instructions to pacify the area. With the 700 men of his 27th U. S. Infantry Regiment, Pershing’s entrenched position overlooked the 450 square-mile Lake Lanao.

Pershing waged his pacification campaign by cleverly combining diplomacy and force. The Moro datus each had their own followers and their own interpretations of the Koran and by no means presented a united front. Friendly and peaceful Moros were rewarded by invitations to Camp Vicars to watch baseball games and enjoy a feast of the best army chow while Pershing preached peace and prosperity. Army doctors treated locals during a cholera epidemic in an action that engendered much good will. Hostile Moros, who harassed the camp nightly, felt Pershing’s power in a series of maneuvers along the lakeshore. The first attack, commanded by "Black Jack" in person, saw a column of infantry, howitzers and gatling guns take the Miciu cota, a powerful position nearly surounded by swamp and water. After two weeks to bridge the swamp, the defenders made a night attack and the fully-prepared Americans mowed them down and stopped them cold, including a final dawn assault by a handful of suicidally-inclined juramentado fanatics. The survivors escaped by water, but the cota was burnt and destroyed and the American column followed up by marching through nearby villages along Lake Lanao to show who was now in charge. Later, after occupying the cota of Bayan, held by a leader who had already sworn friendship but never expected the Americans to pay a friendly visit in force, Pershing was consecrated as a datu, a truly singular honor for a Christian foreigner.

In early 1903, Pershing led his men on a circuit of the three sides of Lake Lanao that still resisted. Bacolod, reputedly the strongest of all the cotas and whose defenders had modern rifles, was stormed after an ineffective two-day bombardment. The Moros proved to be abysmal shots as the Americans filled in the moat and scaled the walls, burning out most of the defenders for a cost of only three American wounded. Although the soldiers were rewarded by hostile headlines back home like "Bacolod Moros Slaughtered with Krags", Pershing exploited the momentun of his victory and kept his column constantly moving around the lake for six more weeks. Many cotas and villages, aware of the grim fate of Bacolod, were quick to submit but the soldiers had to storm three more cotas, none of which caused many U. S. losses. This campaign broke the back of the Moro insurgency in the Lake Lanao region and Captain Pershing, after 36 tension-filled months overseas, was ordered home by his doctors.

After failing to secure him a promotion to major or lieutenant colonel using the army’s seniority-clogged system, admirerer, old friend from San Juan Hill and now President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt promoted Pershing to brigadier general over the heads of 862 senior officers on September 20, 1906. Although a U. S. President cannot legally decree promotions to lower ranks, only the President can make a general! Black Jack returned to the Philippines in late 1906 and was military governor of Moro Province from late 1909 for the final pacification there. In 1913, he led the final assault on the last hold-out Moros defending Mount Bagsak, an extinct valcano, personally hacking away in the hand-to-hand melee that climaxed the final assault. The Moro rebellion was over but, before he sailed off for his more prominent roles pursuing Francisco "Pancho" Villa, commanding the Yanks "Over There" and serving as chief of staff, the now-pacified Moros promoted Pershing from datu to sultan.

One of the most famous units in Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in World War One was the "Lost Battalion", the namesake for our game company. For the heroic story of the original "Lost Battalion" and the namesake of our company mascot. "Cher Ami", see the "Feathered Friend" article elsewhere in our "A Mystery Called History Feature".