09/14/2026
John "Black Jack" Pershing was quite an impressive military general. Historically he had a lot of combat experience awarded by medals for bravery. He was the Supreme Commander of American troops in WW I when he created the Military Police or "MPs" He also had ties to Blount County. HIs mother was Ann Elizabeth Thompson. She was born here in Blount County and her family homesteaded to Missouri. Black Jack visited here, sometimes in secret to pay respects to the ancestry of his mother. Here is his story from Saturday's Daily Times:
General “Black Jack” Pershing had ties to Blount County
Sitting quietly in front of the Emerson Lones American Legion on Water’s Road is a marker, moved in recent years, which tells us that the mother of an important military leader in the United States was born in Blount County, Tennessee. Ann Elizabeth Thompson Pershing, born in 1835, in Blount County was the daughter of James Thompson and Polly Brotherton.
As land opened up farther west Ann’s family migrated to homestead on a farm in Linn County, Missouri. There in 1859, she met and married John Fletcher Pershing a section foreman on the railroad. It was also there in 1860 that John Joseph Pershing their first child of five surviving children was born. Young John’s father was a farmer and store owner and his mother, Ann Elizabeth a housewife.
John attended school with others of the prominent families of the community. After graduating he taught in an African American school and graduated from what is now Truman State University in 1880. Looking to further his education, he applied for the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was accepted and graduated in 1886.
Pershing was assigned first to the U. S. Calvary. He spent several years in the southwest in actions against the Apache and Lakota tribes. In 1891, he was assigned to teach military science at the University of Nebraska where he founded the drill unit, “Pershing Rifles”.
In 1895, he took command of troops of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the original Buffalo Soldier regiments composed of African American soldiers under white officers. From 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, he returned to West Point to teach. Part of his legend say his students did not like his rigidity and because of his previous role as commander of African American troops they began to call him a name that included a racial slur. That changed to “Black Jack” and the moniker stuck with him throughout his career.
At the start of the Spanish American War Pershing was a first lieutenant and appointed quartermaster. He participated in battles at San Juan Hill under Theordore Roosevelt and was awarded the Silver Star for bravery. He was promoted to major and after battling malaria was put in charge of all American troops in the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
Pershing was a commander in the Philippines American War and was cited for bravery in action there. By 1901, he had risen to the rank of captain. In 1905 Pershing married Helen Frances Warren daughter of a powerful senator and Medal of Honor recipient from Wyoming. The marriage solidified his rise to power in the military. President Theordore Roosevelt appointed him that same year to Brigadier General skipping three ranks.
In 1913, Pershing was the commander of a base in the Philippines where he lived with his family. Soon after he was transferred to command at Fort Bliss in Texas. Before he could move his family there his wife and three daughters perished in a house fire in Wyoming, leaving only his son Warren. Pershing’s sister joined him to assist in raising the remaining son.
Pershing led a failed expedition to capture Pancho Villa. In 1917, he was appointed to lead the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. He saw the need for a dedicated military police force and is considered the founding father of the MPs, or Military Police. Many of the successes of World War I are contributed to Pershing.
In his personal life he was engaged to the daughter of General George Patton in 1917, but his absence due to his wartime commitment ended the engagement. After World War I Pershing was granted the commission of General of the Armies of the United States by U. S. Congress. In 1921, he was appointed the first Chief of Staff of the United States Armies and served for three years until his retirement in 1924.
Following his retirement, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his memoirs, “My experiences in the World War.” He secretly married Micheline Resco in 1946 who had painted his portrait in 1917. Pershing passed in July 1948 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D. C. in a site now known as Pershing Hill.
Pershing is said to have visited Blount County and the area off Highway 321 that was his mother’s birthplace several times in his lifetime. Due to his celebrity the visits were often planned in secret, so he could enjoy the time and the history of his mother’s Thompson family. Photos of the farm and his mother’s birthplace are at the Smithsonian. The marker at the legion was moved from the family farm site several years ago to save it from the coming Pellissippi Parkway Extension.
