Sergeant major general general appeared to create a precedence issue, in that a major outranks a lieutenant but a lieutenant general outranks a major general. This continues to cause confusion to those unfamiliar with the history of the rank, particularly in those armies using insignia similar to the British Army. The rank is sometimes used by paramilitary organizations such as militias. Sergeant major general Sergeant major general is a now mostly extinct military rank. A prominent example was Philip Skippon in the English New Model Army as organized by Oliver Cromwell. Over the course of the 17th century, the increasing professionalisation of armies
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