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Health & Fitness 1620 E. Pershing, Cheyenne, WY 82001

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The Pershing Family Grows

After the Senate confirmation of Pershing's appointment to Brigadier General, the family left Tokyo to return to the United States, landing in San Francisco on the 2nd of November, 1905. Pershing was named Commanding General of the Department of California, but he was to hold that post for only a few weeks. During that time, the Pershings resided at the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco.

Trouble was brewing in the Far East. Pershing, who had told the War Department that he preferred active service, was ordered to the Philippines and placed in command of Fort McKinley near Manila.

Frances Warren Pershing, Brigadier General John J. Pershing and their baby daughter, Helen Elizabeth, traveled back across the Pacific, arriving in Manila on the 3rd of December, 1905. For the next 2 ½ years, Brigadier General Pershing worked with the Maoris, the indigenous population, on the construction of a Constitution and to help them organize a local government.

On March 24, 1908, the Pershing's second child, Ann Orr, was born at Baguio, Philippines. She was named after Frances Warren's best friend from college, the maid of honor at their wedding.

Pershing's service during the Russo-Japanese War had given him valuable experience as a military observer. When tensions escalated in the Balkans, he was ordered to Paris to wait there and be ready should war break out.

With Elizabeth and baby Ann in tow, Frances Pershing and the general made their way to the French capital, traveling west via Vladivostok, Russia. They remained in Paris for several weeks before eventually returning to Washington, D.C. in January of 1909.
Not long after their return, Pershing developed complications from malaria he had contracted in Cuba and the Philippines, and the general was sent to the Army and Navy General Hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas for treatment. Frances and the children accompanied him there, then left him to return to Wyoming and stay at her father's ranch in Cheyenne.

It was there in Cheyenne, while her husband was still recuperating in Arkansas, that Frances Warren Pershing gave birth to their only son, Frances Warren, on June 24, 1909.

It was more than two months after his son's birth before Pershing was healthy enough to rejoin his wife and children in Cheyenne. Now that he was healthy again, Pershing requested active service, and he was ordered to return to the Philippines as Commanding General of the Department of Mindanao and Governor of Maori Province. He was to be the head of the military and civilian government in the Philippines, and his jurisdiction included the Sulu Archipelago.

From November 3 of 1909 until December 15 of 1913, General Pershing worked to restore peace in the Philippines and disarm the native Maori population. By the time Pershing had completed his work, the province had evolved to a full civilian government.

Pershing would turn out to be the last military governor of the Philippines.
During those four happy years together, their family got larger - the Pershing's last child, Mary Margaret, was born on May 20, 1912 in Zamboanga, Philippines.
His work completed, Pershing was ordered to report to the 8th Brigade at the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco.

Once Pershing had established his wife and children in his quarters in the Commanding General's residence, he traveled with the 8th Brigade to Fort Bliss, Texas, where they were ordered to patrol the border with Mexico.

The political situation in Mexico at that time had resulted in a state of anarchy, with several attempts at revolution.

The United States refused to recognize the new government of General Huerta, and diplomatic relations between the two nations were severed. Americans living in the border area were understandably concerned.

For the next year, Pershing spent most of his time at his headquarters at Fort Bliss, occasionally visiting his wife and children in San Francisco.

As political tensions between the two nations did not show any sign of improvement or resolution, Pershing began making plans to relocate his family to Fort Bliss. Frances and their four children were scheduled to leave for Texas on the morning of Saturday, August 28.

The Fateful Night of August 27, 1915...

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