George Washington was posthumously appointed General of the Armies during the 1976 United States Bicentennial. The appointment restored Washington’s position as the highest-ranking military officer in U.S. history and took effect on July 4, 1976, the Bicentennial’s culminating date.
Congress authorized the honor through Public Law 94-479, which President Gerald Ford signed on January 19, 1976. The law recognized Washington’s leadership as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and ensured that no later American general would outrank him in historical status.
The title was unusual because Washington had died in 1799, nearly two centuries before the appointment. It was therefore honorary and posthumous, rather than an active military promotion. The distinction is sometimes confused with Washington’s earlier rank of General of the Armies, which Congress had authorized in 1919 but had not explicitly assigned to him by name.
The 1976 action formed part of a nationwide commemoration of the Revolution and the creation of the United States. It connected the Bicentennial’s historical celebrations with Washington’s central role in the struggle for independence and the early republic.