Pershing's Crusaders
General John J. Pershing rides at the head of American troops under the Stars and Stripes while ghostly medieval knights with red-cross shields ride through the sky behind him. The title and the phantom crusaders cast the American Expeditionary Forces as heirs to a holy war, a borrowed symbol doing work the Signal Corps footage itself does not.
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Committee on Public Information (Division of Films); lithograph by H.C. Miner Litho. Co.
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Media and information
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931)
1918. Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-1539.
Text on the object
OFFICIAL U.S. WAR FILM COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION [illegible — remainder of seal text] PERSHING'S CRUSADERS AUSPICES OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT -THE FIRST OFFICIAL AMERICAN WAR PICTURE- TAKEN BY U.S. SIGNAL CORPS AND NAVY PHOTOGRAPHERS [illegible — small printer's imprint, bottom right: "THE H.C. MINER LITHO. CO. N.Y." (partially legible)]
The circular seal top right (reading roughly 'OFFICIAL U.S. WAR FILM / COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION') has further small lettering around its rim that is too low-resolution (456px-wide source image) to transcribe with confidence. The bottom-right printer's credit is likewise very small; the lithographer's name is legible only because it is independently known from the LOC record, not verified letter-by-letter from this scan.
