Armies in the American Civil War of regiments from the same state. In the Confederate Army, a brigadier general usually commanded a brigade, and a major general commanded a division. The Federal Army, with no rank higher than major general until 1864, often had colonels commanding brigades, brigadier generals commanding divisions, and major generals commanding corps and armies. Grant received the revived rank of lieutenant general in 1864, placing him with clear authority over all of the Federal armies, but rank squabbles between the major generals appeared within the Union command structure throughout the Overland Campaign. The large numbers of organizations formed are a reflection of
General of the Armies was to make the General of the Armies senior in grade to the General of the Army. I have advised Congress that the War Department concurs in such proposed action. Stimson's answer was very carefully worded and nowhere did he ever actually state that Pershing held six-star rank. The situation with Pershing was seemingly solved, but the matter of a six-star general in the United States military would reappear in only a few months during the summer of 1945 at which time Douglas MacArthur was proposed for promotion to General of the Armies. Efforts to promote MacArthur, although never successful,