George Washington was posthumously appointed General of the Armies during the 1976 Bicentennial.
Congress passed Public Law 94-479 in 1976 to recognize Washington’s leadership in the Revolutionary War and ensure that no United States Army officer would outrank him on the Army list. The law was signed by President Gerald Ford on October 11, 1976.
The administrative promotion was not immediately completed. In 1978, questions raised within the Army led to formal orders assigning Washington the rank of General of the Armies of the United States, effective July 4, 1976, the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
John J. Pershing had also held the title General of the Armies, but he received it while alive in 1919. Washington’s appointment was distinctive because it was posthumous and retroactive. The rank is often informally described as a six-star rank, although that exact designation was not the legal title.