Four-star grades in the United States are descended from offices and titles used by civil and military officials in the Thirteen Colonies. Starting in the early 1600s, the commission of a colonial governor granted him the same power to raise and command troops in his province as the captain general of an army. A century later, general officers in the British Army had stratified into the four standard ranks of the modern hierarchy—general, lieutenant-general, major general, and brigadier general—with corresponding flag officer ranks in the Royal Navy.

George Washington was general and commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, and there were four British general officers in North America during the war. After serving as the first president of the United States, Washington was authorized but not appointed to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States during the Quasi-War with France.

During the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America appointed eight full generals and an admiral. The highest ranking Union army officers were a lieutenant general and a vice admiral, Ulysses S. Grant and David G. Farragut, who became the first four-star officers in the United States military, but not until after the war.

History (colonial era)

Four-star grades in the United States are descended from offices and ranks used by civil and military officials in the Thirteen Colonies from the early 17th century to the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783.

Until the mid-1600s, all military and naval ranks were held by offices, not individuals. Each rank was the title of a unique billet in a unit that typically disbanded at the end of each campaign (the vice admiral of a squadron, the lieutenant colonel of a regiment). Ranks in the modern sense only began to appear during the English Civil War, when the creation of a standing army and navy provided a permanent organization in which officers could sustain personal ranks between temporary assignments (a vice admiral in the navy, a lieutenant colonel in the army).Lewis (1948), pp. 56–57, 60–61, 64–71.

The colonial era straddled the transition from rank-in-office to rank-in-person. Early colonial governors received commissions granting them civil and military power within their provinces, including titles that later evolved into military ranks like captain general and admiral. The constitutions of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island continue to designate their governors as captain general of the state militia when not under federal command.

Colonial governors It was standard practice to bundle the office of captain general in the commission of a colonial governor, typically a civilian, so he could raise and command militia to defend his province. Governors nominally commanded any regular army forces within their provinces until the French and Indian War, when command of all regulars was consolidated under a single commander in chief for North America.Stokes (1783), pp. 149, 184–188.

Captain general and commander in chief

In 1606, King James I of England granted the Virginia Company of London a royal charter to establish what became the first successful English colony in North America, the proprietary colony of Virginia at Jamestown. Three years later, the charter was amended to let the company name a colonial governor who could use force to defend the colony and had the same power to impose martial law as the lord-lieutenant of an English county. The company issued a commission to Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, to be governor-for-life and captain general, giving him the military authority to wage war against the indigenous Powhatan tribes when he arrived in Virginia in 1610. Subsequent colonial governors of Virginia retained the title of captain general even after Virginia was converted to a royal colony when the company collapsed in 1624.

In 1629, King Charles I of England issued a patent for Sir Robert Heath to be lord proprietor for a new colony of Carolana. The patent authorized Heath and his heirs and assignees, or their chosen subordinates, to muster provincial troops that could make war even outside the province, and do anything else pertaining to the "right & office of a Captaine Generall" with as "full & free power as any Captaine Generall ever had." Heath never founded his colony, but similar language appeared in the charters for subsequent proprietary colonies, including Maryland in 1632, Carolina in 1663, and Pennsylvania in 1681. The proprietary governor could delegate military authority to subordinate officers, such as when Captain Thomas Cornwaleys was commissioned as captain general in Maryland to lead an expedition against the Susquehannock in 1642.Osgood (1904), p. 69.

Commander-in-chief, North America At the start of the French and Indian War, no continent-wide authority existed in North America to organize collective defense. Provincial troops from each colony reported only to their own governor, and the regular army reported only to the king. In February 1755, British Army major general Edward Braddock arrived in America with two regular Irish regiments and a commission as "commander in chief of all forces raised or to be raised in North America", with broad authority to direct colonial governors to fund and supply his regular army troops.Pargellis (1933), pp. 26, 29–34. Anderson (2000), pp. 68–70. Rather than support Braddock's regular army in Virginia, the northern colonies raised a separate provincial army to attack Fort Niagara in New York under Massachusetts Bay governor William Shirley, who was commissioned major general in the British Army to command the expedition.Anderson (2000), pp. 86–91. When Braddock was killed at the battle of the Monongahela in July 1755, Shirley served as temporary commander in chief until relieved by a third British Army major general, John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, who arrived from England in July 1756.Pargellis (1933), p. 36–39. Anderson (2000), p. 110.

Loudoun held an unprecedented combination of civil and military powers that effectively made him viceroy of North America.Anderson (2000), pp. 130–132, 141–143. In addition to the standard military commission as commander in chief and a civil commission as governor of Virginia, Loudoun held a commission under the Great Seal on March 17, 1756, as "General and Commander in Chief of all and singular our Forces employed or to be employed in North America" that outranked any civil commissions issued to colonial governors.Pargellis (1933), pp. 57–60. In the event of his death or disability, succession to his commission under the Great Seal would descend through the military chain of command, which Loudoun interpreted as removing command of regular troops from the governors, even in their own provinces.Pargellis (1933), pp. 260–265. After failing to capture Louisbourg in 1757, Loudoun was replaced by his second in command and his viceregal powers were dispersed. The secretary of state for the Southern Department in England resumed direct supervision of the governors and the commander in chief reverted to a primarily military role.Anderson (2000), pp. 211, 225–229.

Captain general of West Florida

In 1764, the governor of the new colony of West Florida, Royal Navy post captain George Johnstone, tried to invoke his royal commission as "Captain-General and Governor in Chief" to issue commands to regular army officers stationed in his province. The regulars refused Johnstone's orders, saying their chain of command ran through the military commander-in-chief in North America, British Army major general Thomas Gage, who stated that in his ten years of service on that continent, no civilian governor ever had command of regular army troops, and the king never meant for provincial civilian governors to control imperial military forces charged with continental defense.Rowland (ed.) (1911), vol. I, pp. 387–395.Fabel (1987), pp. 33–36.

Johnstone appealed to London to confirm his gubernatorial commission as equivalent to a military commission.Rowland (ed.) (1911), vol. I, pp. 155–166. Instead, the king issued an order in February 1765 clarifying that regular army officers reported exclusively to the military commander in chief, and could be issued only high-level commands by civilian governors that did not contradict orders from the commander in chief, and only in his absence.Rowland (ed.) (1911), vol. I, pp. 172–174. Gage demanded Johnstone be fired as governor, and he was recalled in 1767. A similar attempt to command local regular forces led to the recall of the governor of Quebec, British Army major general James Murray, in 1765.Anderson (2000), pp. 729–731.

The 1765 order was a specific complaint of the First Continental Congress in 1774, which construed it as imposing military government in the colonies.Rowland (ed.) (1911), vol. I, p. 451.

State governors By the start of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, every colonial governor held a royal commission as captain general, governor in chief, and vice admiral that let him command provincial land and sea forces, but not imperial forces. After the Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted in 1776, early state constitutions for New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, North Carolina, and Vermont continued to give their governors some combination of the offices of "Captain General and Commander-in-Chief and Admiral".Fry and Wherry (1879), pp. 16–19.

As late as 2024, the constitutions of Connecticut and Rhode Island still designated their governors as "captain general of the militia of the state" or "captain general and commander in chief of the military and naval forces of the state" when their forces were not under federal command.Article IV, Section 8, Constitution of the State of Connecticut, and Article IX, Section 3, Constitution of the State of Rhode Island.

British Army

General officer ranks General officer ranks in the permanent establishment of the British Army emerged from the professional standing armies of the mid-1600s, including the New Model Army and the Royalist Army in Exile of the English Civil War and their postwar successors, the English, Scots, and Irish standing armies from which the British Army is descended.The English and Scots Armies were amalgamated in 1707 to form the British Army, and the Irish Army was amalgamated in 1801.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, the captain general or lord general had overall command of the army, and subordinate general officer ranks were distinguished by branch: for cavalry, general of horse, lieutenant general of horse, and commissary general; for infantry, general of foot, lieutenant general of foot, and sergeant major general; for mounted infantry, sergeant major general of dragoons; for artillery, general or lieutenant general of the ordnance.Scott et al. (2004), pp. 31–34. Branches were dropped from the ranks of lieutenant general and below by the end of the war in 1714, but the rank of general remained tied to a branch or temporary special service—general of horse, general of foot, general while commander in chief of a geographic theater—until 1761, when eight lieutenant generals were promoted to general without distinction by branch.Stansfield (2010), pp. 20–24, 244.However, the next two batches of lieutenant generals were again promoted to generals of horse or foot in 1765 and 1770. Fortescue (ed.) (1928), p. 315.

General promotion