General of the Armies That a Commander of the United States shall be appointed and commissioned by the style of General of the Armies of the United States and the present office and title of Lieutenant General shall thereafter be abolished. The rank of General of the Armies was intended for bestowal upon George Washington, who held the rank of "General and Commander-in-Chief" which was a grade senior to all American major generals and brigadier generals from the American Revolutionary War. However, only a few months after the Congressional proposal, Washington died on December 14, 1799. The United States Army at that time had
Major (France) rank of Major also designated the general officer () in charge of maintaining the materials and security of a port or naval base, the position was known as the "Major" General of the Arsenals (). In a squadron, the Squadron Major (), was a general officer as Ship-of-the-line captain, and upheld the function of the general staff headquarters of the squadron. The actual organization of the Armies instituted, first in the military hierarchy, a "function" (not a rank) of "Major General" for the ensemble of the Armies or each one of the: Major General of the Armies (), Major General