Military rank

[Rebelsoul]

I'm a little confused, a major is higher in rank than a lieutenant, so how is a lieutenant general higher in rank than a major general ? Someone please enlighten me. Thanks.

 

[rpkennedy]

I'm a little confused, a major is higher in rank than a lieutenant, so how is a lieutenant general higher in rank than a major general ? Someone please enlighten me. Thanks.

I believe the rank was originally "sergeant major general" which shows why it is junior to lieutenant general.

Ryan

 

[Larryh86GT]

A good question I thought.

 

[Hussar Yeomanry]

I believe rpkennedy is correct.

It originally went (Sergeant) Major General
Lieutenant General
Then Captain General

Of course then someone went and put a fly in the ointment. Brigadier General. A General who commands a brigade... and yet in some armies there is/ or was a seperate rank. Brigadier. Which is one up from Colonel...

Hope that helps!

 

[Hussar Yeomanry]

As a side note Captain General still technically exists in the UK Armed Forces.

(Prince Philip, husband of the Queen is Captain General of The Royal Marines while his wife is Captain General of the Army)

 

[Schwallanscher]

my dad (a tanker) always said it was originally (in germany):

1. generalmajor
2. generaloberstleutnant (with the oberst being dropped at some time)
3. general der panzertruppe (originally kavallerie, infantrie or artillerie - they added a bunch of otheres during wwII)
   
4. generaloberst

as i have no way of knowing whether that is true i'd advise to take it with some salt, however, it would make sense to skip the oberst/colonel to reduce the chance of confusion

the english equivalents are (we adopted them after wwII):

1. brigadier general
2. major general
3. lieutenant general
4. general

 

[Carronade]

Here's an earlier thread about it:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/wh...hat-is-origin-of-lt-genl.128853/#post-1424259

 

[TerryB]

Our school library had a book with this chart in it when I was a kid. The Union general on the left reminds me of Grant. Anyone know the illustration's original publishing date?

 

[TinCan]

George Washington was our first Lieutenant General, until Winfield Scott received a brevet promotion to Lieutenant General, a Major General was the highest rank in the United States Army. During the Civil War Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan all became Lt. Generals. A modern Lt. General rank is temporary and the officer holding such rank will revert to his former rank once his assignment requiring the Lt. General rank is complete

 

[USS ALASKA]

Fortunately the abortive American Army experiment with the rank of Corporal Captain had a short life as this documentary video explains...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cuP6ueVJhM

Cheers!
USS ALASKA

 

[James N.]

Our school library had a book with this chart in it when I was a kid. The Union general on the left reminds me of Grant. Anyone know the illustration's original publishing date?

This print appeared originally as a double-page spread plate in the Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion (commonly called the O.R.'s) so dates from ca. 1890 or thereabouts. Of course it should be noted that the Confederate uniforms illustrated are based on the official Confederate regulations adopted in 1861 which were seldom if ever followed in actual practice!

 

[Rio Bravo]

Why was JEB Stuart not a Lt. General as he commanded a Corps ?

 

[James N.]

Why was JEB Stuart not a Lt. General as he commanded a Corps ?

Actually, I don't believe the cavalry of Lee's army was raised to corps level until after the death of Stuart - during his tenure, or at least most of it, it was considered a division with a larger-than-average number of constituent brigades.

 

[Rio Bravo]

Actually, I don't believe the cavalry of Lee's army was raised to corps level until after the death of Stuart - during his tenure, or at least most of it, it was considered a division with a larger-than-average number of constituent brigades.

Thanks for your response James !

 

[GELongstreet]

Actually, I don't believe the cavalry of Lee's army was raised to corps level until after the death of Stuart ...

Actually it was, still in 63. The cavalry division was extremely bulky with 5-6 brigades so it was reorganized into a corps. That´s smaller than an infantry corps but that was, I think, always the case in the ACW (and in other wars as well). Stuart indeed wasn´t promoted, our resident cavalry guys may know more. However both Hampton and Lee were promoted when the corps was created.

 

[Carronade]

Why was JEB Stuart not a Lt. General as he commanded a Corps ?

Actually, I don't believe the cavalry of Lee's army was raised to corps level until after the death of Stuart - during his tenure, or at least most of it, it was considered a division with a larger-than-average number of constituent brigades.

The ANV cavalry was organized as a corps in September 1863. Stuart's division had grown to five brigades, some with as many as six subunits - regiments, brigades, or legions. It was restructured as a corps with three divisions, each having two brigades, later sometimes three; and the brigades were also more manageable, with 3-4 regiments or units.

Corps, infantry or cavalry, were often commanded by major generals (always on the Union side; Grant was the only LtGen they had during the war). Apparently concerns about possibly promoting people too fast outweighed the rules for "proper" rank. It doesn't appear to have reflected on Stuart personally.

 

[JOHN42768]

If they have stars , bars, eagle or scrambled egg you salute and "Yes Sir"

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Reminds me of my wife's promotion ceremony-- the officer promoting her gave a little background on the history of the term "colonel" (= commander of a column). Always appreciate some "hip-pocket" history!

 

[GELongstreet]

...I'm a little confused, a major is higher in rank than a lieutenant, so how is a lieutenant general higher in rank than a major general ? Someone please enlighten me. Thanks.

Beside what was already said about the Sergeant-Major General there is another side to the situation: the etymological one. With Lieutenant meaning placeholder, the French of course, in the military sense this essentially meant deputy (or 2nd-in-command). So the Lieutenant as more or less lowest officer rank (depending on time and nation) serves as deputy of the Captain of his company, the deputy to a Colonel later became the Lieutenant-Colonel and the deputy to the General (or Captain General, or Colonel General, or King in some instances) became the Lieutenant General.


Of course you Americans changed that for yourself when somebody decided that George Washington should be relevant in that matter ... though you came back to reason later - and then lost it again when going for 6-star ranks ...

 

[jcrook]

Actually, I don't believe the cavalry of Lee's army was raised to corps level until after the death of Stuart - during his tenure, or at least most of it, it was considered a division with a larger-than-average number of constituent brigades.

If I remember correctly from the book "The Second NC Cavalry" he had a a larger-than-average number of constituent brigades because he wanted to promote more people to the rank of brigadier general.