The Commanding General of the United States Army was the title given to the service chief and highest-ranking officer of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

(and its predecessor the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

), prior to the establishment of the

Chief of Staff of the United States Army The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and ...

in 1903. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

(1775–1783), the title was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. In 1783, the title was simplified to Senior Officer of the United States Army. In 1821, the title was changed to Commanding General of the United States Army. The office was often referred to by various other titles, such as "Major General Commanding the Army" or "General-in-Chief". From 1789 until its abolition in 1903, the position of commanding general was legally subordinate to the

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

; it was replaced by the creation of the statutory Chief of Staff of the Army in 1903.

Officeholders

† denotes people who died in office.

Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army

Senior Officer of the United States Army

Commanding General of the United States Army

, -style="text-align:center;" , colspan=8, ''Position vacant''
(11 March 1862 – 23 July 1862) , -

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:160 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1770 till:1910 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1770 Colors = id:cinc value:rgb(0,0,0) legend: CINC id:so value:rgb(0,0,1) legend: SO id:cg value:rgb(1,0,0) legend: CG id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1770 at:1780 at:1790 at:1800 at:1810 at:1820 at:1830 at:1840 at:1850 at:1860 at:1870 at:1880 at:1890 at:1900 at:1910 BarData = barset:PM bar:washington bar:knox bar:doughty bar:harmar bar:stclair bar:wayne bar:wilkinson bar:hamilton bar:dearborn bar:brown bar:macomb bar:scott bar:mcclellan bar:halleck bar:grant bar:sherman bar:sheridan bar:schofield bar:miles PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:washington from:1775 till:1783 color:cinc bar:washington from:1798 till:1799 color:so text:"

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

" bar:knox from:1783 till:1784 color:so text:" Knox" bar:doughty from:1784 till:1784 color:so text:"

Doughty Doughty is an English and Scottish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Al Doughty (born 1966), British musician and bassist * Andrew Doughty (1916–2013), British anaesthetist * Anthony Doughty (born 1963), British musician * A ...

" bar:harmar from:1784 till:1791 color:so text:" Harmar" bar:stclair from:1791 till:1792 color:so text:" St. Clair" bar:wayne from:1792 till:1796 color:so text:" Wayne" bar:wilkinson from:1796 till:1798 color:so bar:wilkinson from:1800 till:1812 color:so text:" Wilkinson" bar:hamilton from:1799 till:1800 color:so text:"

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

" bar:dearborn from:1812 till:1815 color:so text:" Dearborn" bar:brown from:1815 till:1821 color:so bar:brown from:1821 till:1828 color:cg text:"

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model ...

" bar:macomb from:1828 till:1841 color:cg text:" Macomb" bar:scott from:1841 till:1861 color:cg text:"

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

" bar:mcclellan from:1861 till:1862 color:cg text:" McClellan" bar:halleck from:1862 till:1864 color:cg text:" Halleck" bar:grant from:1864 till:1869 color:cg text:" Grant" bar:sherman from:1869 till:1883 color:cg text:" Sherman" bar:sheridan from:1883 till:1888 color:cg text:"

Sheridan Sheridan may refer to: People Surname *Sheridan (surname) *Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named *Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician ...

" bar:schofield from:1888 till:1895 color:cg text:" Schofield" bar:miles from:1895 till:1903 color:cg text:"

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

Notes

Bibliography

* Historical Resources Branch;

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...

. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Commanding General of the United States Army United States Army organization # 1775 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies 1903 disestablishments in the United States