General Pershing was permitted to bring into New Mexico 527 Chinese refugees who had assisted him during the expedition, despite the ban on Chinese immigration that existed at that time due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese refugees, known as "Pershing's Chinese," were allowed to remain in the United States on the condition that they work under the supervision of the military as cooks and servants on bases.

General Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies (a retroactive Congressional edict passed in 1976[1] promoted George Washington to the same rank but with higher seniority[2]).