Commanding General of the United States Army

Commanding General of the United States Army
Longest serving Brevet LTG Winfield Scott 5 July 1841 – 1 November 1861
United States Army United States Department of War
Type	Senior-most officer
Reports to	The Secretary of War
Seat	Several HQs (Washington)
Appointer	The President with Congress advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	An act of the Second Continental Congress
Formation	15 June 1775 June 1821
First holder	GEN George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army MG Jacob Brown as Commanding General of the United States Army
Final holder	LTG Nelson A. Miles
Abolished	8 August 1903
Succession	Chief of Staff of the Army

The Commanding General of the United States Army was the title given to the service chief and highest-ranking officer of the United States Army (and its predecessor the Continental Army), prior to the establishment of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army in 1903. During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the title was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. In 1783, the title was simplified to Senior Officer of the United States Army. In 1821, the title was changed to Commanding General of the United States Army. The office was often referred to by various other titles, such as "Major General Commanding the Army" or "General-in-Chief".

From 1789 until its abolition in 1903, the position of commanding general was legally subordinate to the United States Secretary of War; (senior member of the President's Cabinet), but was replaced by the creation of the statutory Chief of Staff of the Army by action of the United States Congress in 1903 under 26th President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919, served 1901–1909).