General of the Armies in chief of the Army of the [United States]". but only wore the three-star insignia of an Army lieutenant general. As of 1782, when Washington was listed as a lieutenant general on the rolls of the United States Army, his rank was informally called "three-star general". The United States at this point had no four-star general rank and would not until 1866. At that time, the European rank of captain general was shortened to simply "general"; there would also be no lieutenant generals in the American army until Winfield Scott was "brevetted" to the rank of lieutenant general in 1855.
General officers in the United States the Chief of Staff of the Army, who had been a major general, equal rank with the Chief of Naval Operations which had been a four-star position since 1916. Lieutenant Generals were reauthorized on 5 August 1939. Four Lieutenant Generals were authorized as temporary ranks for the commanding officers of the four numbered field armies at the time. The four-star rank of General remained unique to the Chief of Staff. During World War II most American Generals held temporary or “theater” appointments in the Army of the United States. Until the Second World War, the highest Marine Corps general rank