PERSHING JOHN J.: (1860-1948) American General of the Armies, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front 1917-18 during World War I. T.L.S., John J. Pershing (twice), one page, 8vo, Fort Bliss, Texas, 18th October 1915, to James P. Orr, on black bordered mourning stationery. Pershing states ?Although I have tried several times to write you, it has just seemed impossible for me to do so, and I knew that you would understand?, further adding that he greatly appreciates Orr?s expression of sympathy, remarking ?Your message has been of much comfort to me under the crushing sorrow that has come so unexpectedly into my life?. In a postscript of four lines, again signed (?John J. Pershing?), the General adds ?I am thankful that Ann and her children were saved?. With blank integral leaf. VG

Pershing?s wife, Frances Warren Pershing, and three of their daughters, tragically died of smoke inhalation on 27th August 1915, during a rapid house fire caused by stray fireplace coals at the Presidio military base in San Francisco. The catastrophic event left John J. Pershing to raise their sole surviving five-year-old son, Francis, just years before taking command of American forces in World War I.