What would his rank be George w?

Answer 1

I'm guessing you're asking about the military rank of George Washington. Washington was the Lieutenant General of the Continental Army. There was only one, Washington, at this rank of three star general. There were major generals (two stars) and brigadier generals (one star) but Washington outranked everyone.

This actually caused the US Army a lot of trouble later, in the Civil War. Because Washington was such a hero, no one could be his equal, therefor the US Army had no three star generals after Washington, even when the army grew to be huge during the Civil War. There were no generals of any rank above major general. Some who were promoted to two stars early in the Civil War turned out to be incompetent duds, but they had seniority within the grade of Major General and had to be allowed to command, often with disastrous results. Lincoln finally solved this problem by making Ulysses Grant only the second three star general ever in the American Army. Like Washington, Grant was the only man at this high rank in the Civil War, he was THE Lieutenant General.

In WWI, General Pershing was a full, four star general. After that war Congress elevated him to "General of the Armies" without specifying any particular number of stars. At the end of WWII nine officers were elevated to five star rank - the only five stars the US has ever had. The army officers receiving a fifth star were called "General of the Army". This has led people to conclude that, since Pershing was made a "General of the ARMIES", that Pershing was a six star general. But again, Congress gave no specificity about a badge for the rank. Whatever it was, Congress then also posthumously promoted George Washington to "General of the Armies". So, Pershing and Washington are the only two Generals "of the Armies" ever in American history. But, while he was alive, Washington was a three star.