John George Quekemeyer Papers, Accretion (Z/2148)

Dates: 1896-1927.

Biography:

John George Quekemeyer

John George Quekemeyer was born in Yazoo City, Yazoo County, Mississippi, on August 31, 1884. He was the son of George H. and Elizabeth Agnes (Housman) Quekemeyer. After graduating from high school in Yazoo City in 1901, Quekemeyer attended the University of Mississippi for a year. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1902. After graduation, he served in the United States Army as a second lieutenant in the Fifth Cavalry; a first lieutenant in the Thirteenth Cavalry; and a captain in the Seventh Cavalry. After being stationed in Arizona, Colorado, and Hawaii, Quekemeyer was chosen as a member of the United States Army polo team. However, an injury prevented him from competing in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

Quekemeyer was an assistant military attaché to the United States embassy in London in 1914. He returned to Washington, D.C., to serve as liaison officer for the British Military Commission to the United States in 1917. Quekemeyer was next transferred to Fort Niagara, New York, where he was an officers training camp instructor. He was appointed to the Graves Commission that was sent to England and France by the War Department to investigate training facilities and to prepare for the arrival of the American Expeditionary Forces in 1917.

On May 1, 1918, Quekemeyer and George Catlett Marshall became aides-de-camp to General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. Quekemeyer was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and then to the rank of colonel (temporarily). He served in the Hague, London, Paris, and Rome, and he was wounded in the Argonne Forest in France in September of 1918. At the close of the war, Quekemeyers rank was reduced to that of major, and in July of 1925, he was appointed as secretary of the American delegation to the Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission, which was headed by General Pershing, to settle border disputes between Chile and Peru. Quekemeyer was then selected as one of the commandants at West Point, but he died of pneumonia on February 28, 1926, before he reached his post. He was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of correspondence, photographs, military records, Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission records, certificates, financial records, publications, newsclippings, maps, and miscellaneous papers concerning Major John George Quekemeyer or General John J. Pershing.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence. 1906-1925; n.d. 4 folders.

The correspondence primarily consists of letters written from the Pershing for President organization in 1920. The chairman of the organization, Mark W. Woods, was the principal correspondent, and Quekemeyer and P. C. Spencer were two other frequent correspondents. Most of the letters discuss the progress of the presidential campaign. Major General C. P. Summerall wrote Quekemeyer in February of 1920 expressing his political support for General Pershings presidential campaign. General Pershing wrote Quekemeyer several times in 1920, particularly in December of that year. In an undated letter, General Pershing also invited Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain of France to visit the United States.

Some of the other letters were written to Quekemeyer at Fort Riley, Kansas; El Paso, Texas; Fort DuChesne, Utah; Washington, D.C.; and Chaumont, France. The majority of these letters concern military orders, but a few letters mention personal matters such as Quekemeyers investments at various financial institutions. Included is a 1919 invitation for Quekemeyer to attend the signing of the treaty of Versailles. Quekemeyer also wrote Marshal Pétain in March of 1919 thanking him for the Croix de Guerre. Other correspondents include Brigadier General Fox Conner, Arthur M. Page, and United States senator Francis E. Warren.

Box 1, folders 1-4

Series 2: Photographs. 1915-1926; n.d. 67 folders.

Almost all of the photographs are black-and-white in format, and most of them depict Quekemeyer or General Pershing in England, France, Germany, and the United States. The bulk of the photographs are of World War I victory parades in London, Paris, New York City, and Washington, D.C. A number of these photographs were taken from or near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The United States Army Signal Corps took many of the photographs, including some that are in postcard format. Some of the other places photographed include the medieval cathedrals of Bourges, Mont Sec, and Rheims, France, and Cologne, Germany.

General Pershing and his staff, including Quekemeyer, were the subjects of a large number of photographs. There are photographic portraits of General Pershing and of Quekemeyer and photographs of a bust of General Pershing. There are photographs of General Pershing reviewing troops, including the First, Second, and Third Divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces, and there are other depictions of General Pershing reviewing bunkers and graves in France. There are oversized photographs of General Pershing and Major General Joseph T. Dickman reviewing the Second Division in Valendar, Germany, in March of 1919. Men of the 164^th Division are depicted receiving the Croix de Guerre in Croixmére, France, in March of 1918. There is a photograph of Quekemeyer receiving an award in Chaumont, France, in April of 1919. Other photographs are of cavalry-training exercises; women working for the Salvation Army in Ansonville, France, in April of 1918; General Pershing standing before the United States House of Representatives in September of 1919; a breakfast at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City in 1920; and Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission-related activities.

Other subjects of the photographs include King George V and Queen Mary of England; the king and queen of Belgium; Winston Churchill, Dwight Whitney Morrow, Raymond Poincaré, Blanche Savoie, and Woodrow Wilson; United States admiral Julian Latimer and generals Fox Conner, Charles G. Dawes, Joseph T. Dickman, John Leonard Hines, John Archer Lejeune, George C. Marshall, James William McAndrew, and Frank Ross McCoy; and French marshals Ferdinand Foch, Joseph-Jacques-Césaire Joffre, and Henri Philippe Pétain and general Charles Mangin.

Box 2, folders 1-6 (n.d.)
Box 3, folders 1-4 (1919; n.d.)
Box 4, folders 1-32 (1915-1924; n.d.)
Box 5, folders 1-10 (1919; 1925; n.d.)
Box 6, folders 1-8 (1918-1920; n.d.)
Box 7, folders 1-2 (1919-1921; n.d.)
Box 8, folders 1-2 (1919; 1925-1926; n.d.)
Box 9, folders 1-3 (1924-1925; n.d.)

Series 3: Military Records. 1912-1921; n.d. 3 folders.

Military records consist of memoranda, reports, and speeches of Quekemeyer and General Pershing. The speeches were delivered by General Pershing at Chaumont, France, on November 28, 1918; at the American Cemetery in Romagne, France, on May 20, 1919; at the United States House of Representatives on September 19, 1919; in Chicago on December 21, 1919; and at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on May 31, 1920. There is also an address by General Charles G. Dawes in Chicago on December 21, 1919, and there are several anonymous, undated speeches, including two annotated ones. Military commissions are related to the appointment of Quekemeyer as a cavalry captain and major. There are also two 1919 American Expeditionary Forces insignia charts.

Box 1, folder 5 (1918-1920; n.d.)
Box 7, folder 3 (1919)
Box 10, folder 2 (1912-1921; n.d.)

Series 4: Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission Records. 1924-1926; n.d. 2 folders.

Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission records include press releases, reports, and resolutions. There are also Chile Exploration Company surveys of several hectares of land in Chile in 1924 and a map of Argentina and Chile.

Box 6, folder 10 (1924; n.d.)
Box 9, folder 7 (1924-1926; n.d.)

Series 5: Certificates. 1917; 1920-1921. 1 folder.

Box 6, folder 9

Series 6: Financial Records. 1918-1920. 1 folder.

Financial records include check registers and check stubs of Quekemeyer from 1918 to 1920.

Box 10, folder 1

Series 7: Publications. 1896-1925; n.d. 5 folders, 4 volumes.

Publications include Manual for Army Cooks (1896); Firing Regulations for Small Arms (1904); Reports of Military Observers Attached to the Armies in Manchuria During the Russo-Japanese War (1906); Wyoming Artillery Mess songbook (1909); Annual Report of the Commandant (1912) of the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas; and Official Register of the Officers and Cadets of the United States Military Academy (1913); Final Report of General John J. Pershing (1919); Blue Mountain Bards (1919), an anthology of Blue Mountain College poets; and two issues of Remount (December 1920), a magazine that was published in Washington, D.C.

Box 9, folders 4-5 (1909-1920)
Box 10, folders 3-5 (1896-1925)
Box 11, volumes 1-4 (1904; 1908; 1919; n.d.)

Series 8: Newsclippings. 1913-1927; n.d. 2 folders, 1 volume.

A scrapbook contains newsclippings concerning Quekemeyer, particularly his successes as a polo player from 1910 to 1913. Most of the loose newsclippings relate to General Pershing and his travels across the United States. They are mainly from Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, South Carolina, and Texas newspapers.

Box 6, folder 12 (1913-1924; n.d.)
Box 9, folder 6 (1919-1927; n.d.)
Box 11, volume 5 (1910-1913; n.d.)

Series 9: Maps. 1912-1922; n.d. 1 folder.

There are 1912, 1914, and undated maps of France; an October 1916 map of Amiens, France; and an undated map of Belgium and France. A 1922 United States map is annotated with the names of several forts.

Box 7, folder 4

Series 10: Papers (Miscellaneous). 1913-1926; n.d. 5 folders.

Miscellaneous papers include programs from numerous banquets that Quekemeyer or General Pershing attended. Several brochures pertain to the candidacy of General Pershing for United States president. There is also a folder of biographical information on Quekemeyer that was mainly compiled from histories of Yazoo County, Mississippi.

Box 3, folder 5 (1919; n.d.)
Box 6, folder 11 (1918-1926; n.d.)
Box 8, folder 3 (1919-1921; n.d.)
Box 9, folders 8-9 (1913-1924; n.d.)

Box List:

Box 1, folders 1-4: correspondence, 1906-1925; n.d.
Box 1, folder 5: military records, 1918-1920; n.d.
Box 2, folders 1-6: photographs, n.d.
Box 3, folders 1-4: photographs, 1919; n.d.
Box 3, folder 5: papers (miscellaneous), 1919; n.d.
Box 4, folders 1-32: photographs, 1915-1924; n.d.
Box 5, folders 1-10:photographs, 1919; 1925; n.d.
Box 6, folders 1-8: photographs, 1918-1920; n.d.
Box 6, folder 9: certificates, 1917; 1920-1921.
Box 6, folder 10: Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission records, 1924; n.d.
Box 6, folder 11: papers (miscellaneous), 1918-1926; n.d.
Box 6, folder 12: newsclippings, 1913-1924; n.d.
Box 7, folders 1-2: photographs, 1919-1921; n.d.
Box 7, folder 3: military records, 1919.
Box 7, folder 4: maps, 1912-1922; n.d.
Box 8, folders 1-2: photographs, 1919; 1925-1926; n.d.
Box 8, folder 3: papers (miscellaneous), 1919-1921; n.d.
Box 9, folders 1-3: photographs, 1924-1925; n.d.
Box 9, folders 4-5: publications, 1909-1920.
Box 9, folder 6: newsclippings, 1919-1927; n.d.
Box 9, folder 7: Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commission records, 1924-1926; n.d.
Box 9, folders 8-9: papers (miscellaneous), 1913-1924; n.d.
Box 10, folder 1: financial records, 1918-1920.
Box 10, folder 2: military records, 1912-1921; n.d.
Box 10, folders 3-5: publications, 1896-1925.
Box 11, volumes 1-4: publications, 1904; 1908; 1919; n.d.
Box 11, volume 5: newsclippings, 1910-1913; n.d.