And probably no American officer ever went on so stoically doing his duty after enduring such appalling personal tragedy. None ever commanded so many different types of troops, from one of the nation’s last all-black combat regiments to the first U.S. No American general besides George Washington ever held such high rank.
And yet, no other American general ever held significant command positions in so many diverse theaters of war. He never defied a president or harbored obvious presidential ambitions. During the war in which he commanded, he accepted no unconditional surrenders, invented no famous strategies.
He has all but faded from our collective memory: A terse, uncharismatic figure in a drab, old-fashioned uniform. From the Old West to the Western Front, from a troop of Buffalo Soldiers to a million doughboys, Pershing’s globe-circling career is a virtual history of the U.S.
