While not distinguished academically, he was the leader of the class of 1886 in every other way.

At West point he was an average student who loved to dance and enjoy “the society of women”. He saw it as a good career move in his quest to become a lawyer and it was a free education. Lacey reports that Pershing sought an appointment to the West Point Military Academy for the same reasons many do today. Apparently Pershing was a convincing presence because they all sat down and never gave another thought to classroom mutiny! Military Education Pershing confronted the largest one of the bunch and threatened to thrash him if he did not submit. After being asked to stay after school the entire bunch decided to walk out. Within two weeks the group decided it was time to test the new “professor”. Lacey relates that this may have been a very strong reason that John had this opportunity at such a young age. His first class included a band of older toughs who had run every teacher out who had taken their charge. He knew he needed an education so he enrolled in the local school again and juggling farm work and school work learned enough to pass the test to become a teacher himself by the time he was 18. For three years these young farmers struggled and barely made ends meet but John said he learned more of “the practical side of life than during any similar period.” Education This left John and his brother to begin farming careers. The store faced bankruptcy after the panic of 1873 and John’s father went on the road as a traveling salesman. He was not averse to taking some risk and that was an influence that Pershing would inherit when it came to exhibiting leadership. John’s father was the proprietor of a General Store. These early experiences molded Pershing into a leader and innovator who was a contrast between old school military tactics and modern training procedures that have survived into the twenty-first century. Lace writes that Pershing was born at the beginning of the Civil War and at the age of three survived an attack of Southern raiders on the family store in Laclede, MO. It is a rare club that was only joined posthumously by General George Washington in 1976 by order of then President Gerald Ford. John Pershing was first General to hold the official rank of General of the Armies of the United States. The chronicle of the life of a man who embodied every great part of American leadership from the past then became the model for every American General in the future.

Legend of black jack pershing