John Joseph Pershing was born near Laclede, Missouri, on 13 September 1860; attended the State Normal School, then graduated from the United States Military Academy, 1886; was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 6th Cavalry, July 1886; performed garrison and field duties in the Southwest and Northern Plains, 1886?1890, and participated in the Wounded Knee campaign; was professor of military science and tactics at University of Nebraska, 1891?1895, studying law concurrently and receiving his degree, 1893; was promoted to first lieutenant and assigned to the 10th Cavalry, October 1892; served in Montana, 1895?1896; after a brief tour at Army headquarters, was assistant instructor in tactics at West Point, 1897?1898; served with the 10th in Cuba, including operations at San Juan Hill; was promoted to major of volunteers, detailed in ordnance, and assigned to Army headquarters and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War, 1898?1899, where he organized a Bureau of Insular Affairs; was reverted to a regular captaincy, June 1901, and assigned successively to the 1st and 10th Cavalry; served in the Philippines as a departmental adjutant general and engineer officer, collector of customs, and cavalry squadron commander, participating in actions against Moros, 1899?1903; served on the War Department General Staff, 1903?1904, and as assistant chief of staff of the Southwestern Division, 1904; attended the Army War College, 1904?1905; married Frances Warren, 1905; was military attach? to Japan and an observer of the Russo-Japanese War, 1905?1906; at President Roosevelt?s nomination, was promoted to brigadier general over 862 senior-ranking officers, September 1906; commanded the Department of California, 1906, and Fort McKinley, 1907?1908; was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff, 1908?1909; was governor of Moro Province and commander, Department of Mindanao, 1909?1913; commanded the 8th Infantry Brigade at the Presidio of San Francisco, 1914?1916, where in 1915 he lost his wife and three daughters in a fire; led the Mexican Punitive Expedition, 1916?1917, receiving promotion to major general during the campaign; was promoted to general, October 1917; commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in France in World War I, 1917?1919; was advanced to the rank of General of the Armies, September 1919; moved his headquarters to Washington, prepared a report on the war, and made an extended tour of military inspection, 1919?1921; was chief of staff of the United States Army, 1 July 1921?13 September 1924; established the War Plans Board; pressed for national preparedness, a strong Army, increased efficiency and economy, officer schooling, and a well-regulated militia; retired from active service, September 1924; was chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission, 1923?1948, and headed the Tacna-Arica Boundary Commission, 1925?1926; died in Washington, D.C., on 15 July 1948.