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Formalized Ranks

Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels owe their titles to the Sixteenth Century Spanish King Ferdinand. About 1505 he reorganized part of his army into twenty units called colunelas or columns. These consisted of about 1000 to 1250 men further organized into companies. The commander was the cabo de colunela, head of the column, or Colonel. Since the colunelas were royal or "crown" units, they were also called coronelias and their commanders coronels. Later in the Sixteenth Century the French copied the colunela idea and from it developed their regiments in the Seventeenth Century. They kept the title of Colonel and pronounced it the way it looks. The British copied the regiment organization from the French. They also borrowed the word Colonel from the French, but adopted the Spanish pronounciation of coronel. Why they did is a mystery. The British modified the pronounciation of coronel to "kernal" during several decades of use.

In the French and British armies the Colonels were usually noblemen whose other interests during peacetime or between battles kept them away from their regiments. Also, they had little taste for the mundane activities of drilling, training and marching. The Colonel’s assistants—their lieutenants—took over at such times and any other times the Colonels were gone. The Colonel’s lieutenants, of course, soon became the Lieutenant Colonels. Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels led regiments throughout the Seventeenth Century and later and were the obvious ranks for such positions when our Army started in 1775.

Colonels started wearing spread eagles as rank insignia in 1829 when they transferred the gold or gilt eagles that decorated their hat cockades to their collars. Eagles have been popular symbols in other military services at least as far back as the Romans. After 1831 most American Colonels wore silver eagles on their gold epaulettes or gold-bordered shoulder straps. Infantry Colonels were the exceptions. They still wore the gold eagles to contrast with their silver epaulettes or silver-bordered shoulder straps until 1851 when they changed to gold epaulettes and shoulder straps with silver eagles.

Lieutenant Colonels started wearing oak leaves about 1832 on their shoulder straps. The leaves had to be the same color as the shoulder strap borders, so infantry Lieutenant Colonels wore silver leaves while others wore gold. This arrangement, not surprizingly, lead to confusion with some Majors and Lieutenant Colonels wearing gold leaveswhile others wore silver leaves. The Army did away with that bit of confusion in 1851 by having all officers wear straps with gold borders, all Majors wear gold oak leaves, and all Lieutenant Colonels wear silver leaves, as they do today.

Captains entered the English navy in the eleventh Century as the commanders of soldiers serving on ships to do the fighting when needed. The ships were commanded by Masters, who were Warrant Officers. The Masters were in charge of operating the ships, while the Captains just concerend themselves with combat. In the Fifteenth Century the Captains and their Lieutenants began taking over the executive functions on the ships. By 1747 the officers had full command of the ships so the British made Captain an official naval title and thereafter called the commander of any ship a Captain. In 1748 the British navy established three grades of Captain, depending on the size of ship commanded. The top grade of Post-Captain was equal in rank to an Army Colonel. The two lower grades eventually became the ranks of Commander and Lieutenant Commander in the British navy.

Captain was the highest rank in our navy from its beginning in 1775 until 1857, when Congress created the temporary rank of Flag Officer, which gave way to Commodore and Rear Admiral in 1862. The commander of any warship was a Captain. This situation lead to three grades of Captain, ranking, according to the officer’s duties, with an Army Brigadier General, Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel. The top grade of Captain became Commodore or Real Admiral in 1862 while the lowest grade became Master Commandant in 1806 and Commander in 1837. The Navy Captain thus remained equal in rank to an Army Colonel.

The eagle as a rank insignia for Captain first appeared in 1852 when he wore an eagle perched on an anchor on his epaulettes and shoulder straps. On the epaulettes he also wore a silver star, which he lost to the Commodore in 1862. The four sleeve stripes appeared in 1869. The four stripes also showed up on the Captain’s shoulder marks in 1899. In 1941 he began wearing metal pin-on rank insignia on his khaki shirts. For that insignia he exchanged his eagle perched on an anchor for the spread eagle worn by Army and Marine Colonels.

The Dutch invented the Commodore rank about 1652 during one of their naval wars with England. They found they needed officers to command squadrons, but did not want to create more Admirals, perhaps to avoid paying Admirals’ salaries. A Commodore’s pay was only about half that of an Admiral. The word comes from comendador, which means "having command over others" and might be of French or Spanish origin. The Dutch leader William of Orange introduced the rank to the British navy after he became King William III of England in 1689. Sometime later the British merchant marine began calling the senior officer of a merchant fleet Commodore. The Dutch also used the broad command pennant, a wide swallow-tailed pennant, that has become identified with Commodores in many navies, merchant fleets and yacht clubs.

Our Navy used Commodore as an honorary title from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War for Captains commanding two or more ships operating together or who had other significant additional responsibilities. In 1862 Commodore became an official rank and the Navy promoted 18 Captains. They wore the single star on their epaulettes. In 1866 they began wearing the two-inch stripe on their sleeve cuffs. The broad stripe was inspired by the Commodore’s broad pennant and, in effect, transferred it from his ship’s masthead to his sleeve, a practice also adopted by many other navies and yacht clubs.

Commodore was a command rank in our Navy from 1862 to 1899. After that it was a rank in which Captains who had served in the Civil War were retired. It was recalled to active duty in 1943 for World War II service and 174 officers held it as a temporary rank. Afterwards it once again became an honorary rank for commanders of some squadrons.

The story does not end there, however. The Commodore has come back. Congress revived the rank in 1981 to eventually replace the Rear Admiral, lower half, rank. In December 1982 the Navy selected 38 Captains to wear the broad stripe and single star.

Admiral comes from the Arabic term amir-al-bahr meaning commander of the seas. Crusaders learned the term during their encounters with the Arabs, perhaps as early as the Eleventh Century. The Sicilians and later Genoese took the first two parts of the term and used them as one word, amiral. The French and Spanish gave their sea commanders similar titles. As the word was used by people speaking Latin or Latin-based languages it gained the ‘d’ and endured a series of different endings and spellings leading to the English spelling "admyrall" in the Fourteenth Century and to "admiral" by the Sixteenth Century.

King Edward I appointed the first English Admiral in 1297 when he named William de Layburn "Admiral of the sea of the King of England". Sometime later the title became Lord High Admiral and appeared to be concerned with administering naval affairs rather than commanding at sea. Admirals did become sea commanders by the Sixteenth or Seventeenth Century. When he commanded the fleet, the Admiral would either be in the lead or the middle portion of the fleet. When the Admiral commanded from the middle portion of the fleet his deputy, the Vice Admiral, would be in the leading portion or van. The "vice" in Vice Admiral is a Latin word meaning deputy or one who acts in the place of another. The Vice Admiral is the Admiral’s deputy or lieutenant and serves in the Admiral’s place when he is absent. The British Vice Admiral also had a deputy. His post was at the rear of the fleet, so instead of calling him the "Vice-Vice Admiral" his title became Rear Admiral. He was the "least important" of the flag officers so he commanded the reserves and the rear portion of the fleet. Sometimes he was called "Admiral in the rear". The British have had Vice and Rear Admirals since at least the Sixteenth Century.

Our Navy did not have any Admirals until 1862 because many people felt the title too reminiscent of royalty to be used in the republic’s navy. Others saw the need for ranks above Captain. John Paul Jones pointed out that the Navy had to have officers who "ranked" with Army Generals. He also felt there must be ranks above Captain to avoid disputes among senior Captains. The various secretaries of the Navy repeatedly recommended to Congress that Admiral ranks be created because the other navies of the world used them and American senior officers were "often subjected to serious difficulties and embarrassments in the interchange of civilities with those of other nations...." Congress finally authorized nine Rear Admirals on July 16, 1862, although that was probably more for the needs of the rapidly expanding Navy during the Civil war than any international considerations. Two years later Congress authorized the appointment of a Vice Admiral from among the nine Rear Admirals. He was David Glasgow Farragut. Another bill allowed the President to appoint Farragut Admiral on July 25, 1866 and David Dixon Porter Vice Admiral. When Farragut died in 1870 Porter became Admiral and Stephen C. Rowan Vice Admiral. When they died Congress did not allow the promotion of any of the Rear Admirals to succeed them, so there were no more Admirals or Vice Admirals by promotion until 1915 when Congress authorized an Admiral and a Vice Admiral each for the Atlantic, Pacific and Asiatic fleets.

There was one Admiral in the interim, however. In 1899 Congress recognized George Dewey’s accomplishments during the Spanish-American War by authorizing the President to appoint him Admiral of the Navy. He held that rank until he died in 1917. Nobody has since held that title. In 1944 Congress approved the five-star Fleet Admiral rank. The first to hold it were Ernest J. King, William D. Leahy and Chester W. Nimitz. The Senate confirmed their appointments December 15, 1944. The fourth Fleet Admiral, William H. Halsey, got his fifth star in December 1945. None have been appointed since.

The sleeve stripes now used by Admirals and Vice Admirals date from March 11, 1869 when the Secretary of the Navy’s General Order Number 90 specified that for their "undress" uniforms Admirals would wear a two-inch stripe with three half-inch stripes above it and Vice Admirals the two-inch stripe with two half-inch stripes above it. The Rear Admiral got his two-inch stripe and one half-inch stripe in 1866. The sleeve stripes had been more elaborate. When the Rear Admiral rank started in 1862 the sleeve arrangement was three stripes of three-quarter-inch lace, alternating with three stripes of quarter-inch lace. It was some ten inches from top to bottom. The Vice Admiral, of course, had even more stripes and when Farragut became Admiral in 1866 he had so many stripes they reached from his cuffs almost to his elbow. On their dress uniforms the admirals wore bands of gold embroidery of oak leaves and acorns.

The admirals of the 1860s wore the same number of stars on their shoulders as admirals of corresponding grades do today. In 1899 the Navy’s one Admiral (Dewey) and 18 Rear Admirals put on the new shoulder marks, as did the other officers, when wearing their white uniforms, but they kept their stars instead of repeating the sleeve cuff stripes.

A General usually has overall command of a whole army. His title comes from the Latin word generalis that meant something pertaining to a whole unit of anything, rather than just to a part. As a military term General started as an adjective, as in Captain General indicating the Captain who had overall or "general" command of the army.

Before the Sixteenth Century armies were usually formed only when needed for a war or campaign. The king would be the commander, but he might appoint a Captain General to command in his name. Later, when the title of Colonel became popular, some kings called their commanders Colonel General. The British Army stopped using the Captain part of the title by the Eighteenth Century, leaving just General as the top commander. Some nations still use the Colonel General rank, among them the Soviet Union and East Germany. The king or his Captain General would often be away from the army since they had interests elsewhere, so the job of actually running the army fell to the Captain General’s assistant—his lieutenant—the Lieutenant General. This was not a permanent rank until the Seventeenth Century. One of the Colonels might be appointed Lieutenant General for a particular campaign or war, but he would still command his own regiment. Since he might also be Captain of a company in his regiment, it was possible for one man to serve as Captain, Colonel and General simultaneously.

The army’s chief administrative officer was the Sergeant Major General who was also appointed for the particular campaign or war. He would be an experienced soldier, possibly a commoner, who served as chief of staff. For much of his administrative work he dealt with the regimental Sergeant Majors, thus his title meant "overall" or "chief" Sergeant Major. His duties included such things as supply, organization, and forming the army for battle or march. Here again, as with the regimental Sergeant Major, a loud, commanding voice was a key requirement. As the General ranks became fixed during the Seventeenth Century, the Sergeant portion fell away leaving the title as Major General. We can see this trend in England where in 1655 Oliver Cromwell, who ruled that nation temporarily as Lord Protector, organized the country into eleven military districts each commanded by a Major General.

The Lieutenant General and Sergeant Major General dealt directly with the Colonels commanding the Army’s regiments. When there got to be too many regiments for the two generals to handle effectively, they organized battle groups or brigades, usually composed of three or more regiments. Brigade comes from the Florentine word brigare that in turn came from the Latin briga, both of which referred to fighting or strife. The brigade’s commander was the Brigadier, who in some armies later became Brigadier General.

When our Army started in 1775 the Continental Congress commissioned George Washington General and Commander-in-Chief. He and his Major and Brigadier Generals wore various colored ribbons to show their ranks. There were no Lieutenant Generals in that army. In June 1780 General Washington ordered the Major Generals to wear a uniform that included two gold epaulettes with two silver stars on each epaulette. Brigadier Generals were to wear gold epaulettes with one silver star on each. General Washington might have chosen the stars because the generals and admirals of the French forces serving in that war wore stars. Another story has it that he was inspired by the stars in our new flag. The General’s stars, then, are the oldest rank insignia still in use by our armed forces.

General Washington was the first to wear three stars, when he became the nation’s first Lieutenant General in 1798. After he died in 1799 there was not another Lieutenant General until 1855. The three stars appeared again, however, by 1832, as the insignia of the Major General who commanded the Army. In 1855 Congress honored Winfield Scott for his service as commanding general since 1841 and for his accomplishments in 1847 during the war with Mexico by making him a Brevet Lieutenant General. He held that rank until he retired in 1861. The next Lieutenant General was Ulysses S. Grant in 1864. Two years later he became the first General of the Army of the United States and chose four stars as his rank insignia. When Grant became President in 1869 he appointed William T. Sherman General of the Army and Phillip H. Sheridan Lieutenant General. Sherman changed the rank insignia in 1872 to a gold embroidered coat of arms of the united States between two silver stars. After Sherman retired in 1884 there was not supposed to be another General of the Army, but in 1888 Congress relented and permitted the President to promote Sheridan who died two months later.

Congress allowed another Lieutenant General promotion in 1895, one in 1900, five between 1903 and 1906, two in 1918 during World War I, one in 1929, and then no more until 1939. Our Army has been supplied with Lieutenant Generals since, as has the Marine Corps since 1942 and the Air Force since 1947.

There were no more full Generals after Sheridan died in 1884 until 1917 when Tasker H. Bliss, the Army Chief of Staff, and John J. Pershing, the commander of the U.S. forces in France during World War I, both went from Major General to General (emergency) so they could have ranks equal to the allied commanders with whom they dealt. They changed the rank insignia back to four stars. In 1918, Peyton C. March also became a general.

In 1919 Congress honored Pershing for his wartime service by permitting the President to promote him to General of the Armies of the United States, which he held until he retired in 1924. He chose his own insignia, which was four star. Nobody else has received that rank during his lifetime. In 1976 Congress authorized the President to posthumously appoint George Washington General of the Armies of the United States and specified that he would rank first among all officers of the Army, past or present.

Congress did not allow the promotion of any more full Generals from 1918 to 1929, when the Major General chosen to be Chief of Staff also became a temporary General so he could have a rank equal to the Chief of Naval Operations. Promotions for others to General did not come until World War II, with the exception of a permanent promotion to General, for World War I Generals Bliss and March in June 1930. The Army still has several Generals, the Marines have had at least one General since 11945 and the Air Force, which started with three in 1947, also has several.

During World War II our Army got so big that even full Generals were not enough, so in 1944 Congress created the new rank of General of the Army and specified five stars as its insignia. Congress did not revive the General of the Army rank held by Grant, Sherman and Sheridan. The World War II Generals of the Army were in a separate category from the Civil War Generals of the Army. In December 1944 the President appointed George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Henry H. Arnold Generals of the Army. In 1949 Arnold’s title became General of the Air Force. Omar N. Bradley got his fifth star in 1950.

As to the question of Pershing being a six-star general, there can be no answer unless Congress creates the General of the Armies rank again and specifies the insignia. Pershing does rank ahead of the Five-star Generals. He comes right after Washington, but he chose his own insignia and he never wore more than four stars.

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US Military Medals Book 1939-Present By Col. Frank Foster and Mr. Lonny Borts. Color pictures of all U. S. Military Decorations, Service Medals, Marksmanship Medals and Ribbons, plus commonly presented foreign medals. Complete color ribbon displays in order of precedence for Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine awards since 1939. Complete chapter on devices for awards and ribbons (cross indexed with medals). Complete section on wear and display of U.S. Military Medals for all Branches. Section on How To Claim Your Medals From the Government.

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