General of the Armies Congress authorized the appointment of three-star lieutenant generals and four-star generals to be granted temporarily for service in the National Army. Tasker H. Bliss and John J. Pershing were promoted to general in October 1917, and Peyton C. March was promoted to that rank in May 1918. Hunter Liggett and Robert Lee Bullard were both promoted to lieutenant general on October 16, 1918. In 1919, by Congressional directive, the rank of General of the Armies was formally established and John J. Pershing became the first person to hold the rank. After the close of the First World War, the highest
General of the Armies also drastically reduced in size and there was no practical need for a superior General rank, thus the proposal for General of the Armies was soon forgotten. In 1865, after the close of the American Civil War, Congress again revisited the idea of a superior General rank. The result was the creation of a special rank called "General of the Army of the United States", which was held by Ulysses S. Grant. This early version of General of the Army was in fact a four-star general officer rank although, unlike in modern times, Congress intended for only one Army officer