General of the armies

General of the Armies
Army service uniform shoulder strap design for the proposed insignia for a General of the Armies.
Country	United States
Service branch	United States Army
Abbreviation	GAS
Rank	Six-star
NATO rank	OF-11
Non-NATO rank	O-12
Next lower rank	General of the Army
Equivalent ranks	Admiral of the Navy

The General of the Armies of the United States, or more commonly referred to as General of the Armies (abbreviated as GAS), is the highest possible rank in the United States Armed Forces. The rank is informally equated to that of a six star general and is the highest possible operational rank of the United States Army.

The rank has only been held twice in history - once by an active duty officer (John J. Pershing) with a further posthumous promotion to George Washington in 1976. The rank of General of the Armies is senior to General of the Army, General of the Air Force and Fleet Admiral.

Appointment to the rank or grade of General of the Armies of the United States has a history spanning over two centuries. In the course of its existence the authority and seniority of the rank, and perceptions by both the American public and the military establishment, have varied. The first mention of the rank "General of the Armies" was in an Act of the United States Congress on March 3, 1799. Congress provided:

The rank of General of the Armies was intended for bestowal upon George Washington, who held the rank of "General and Commander-in-Chief" which was a grade senior to all American major generals and brigadier generals from the American Revolutionary War. However, only a few months after the Congressional proposal, Washington died on December 14, 1799. The United States Army at that time had 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 to hold the position thus granting the rank the same authority as the initial concept of General of the Armies. William T. Sherman, and Philip Sheridan would also hold the position. By Sheridan's tenure, the insignia had been changed to that of a major general superimposed upon a golden national eagle. This change was made since the United States Army of the 1880s had no rank of lieutenant general, thus creating an insignia gap between two and four stars.