General, title and rank of a senior army officer, usually

one who commands units larger than a regiment or its

equivalent or units consisting of more than one arm of
the service. Frequently, however, a general is a staff
officer who does not command troops but who plans their
operations in the field.
General, lieutenant general, and major general are the
first, second, and third grades of general officers in
many armies. The United States Army, Air Force,
and Marines have a fourth general officer
grade, brigadier general (brigadier in the British Army).
The highest U.S. Army rank, five-star general of the
army, was created in 1944 and was conferred upon Henry
Harley (“Hap”) Arnold, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas
MacArthur, and George C. Marshall in that year and
upon Omar N. Bradley in 1950. The four-star rank of
general of the army of the United States was established
for Ulysses S. Grant in 1866 and was bestowed later
upon William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan; the unique
four-star rank of general of the armies of the United
States, created in 1799 for George Washington but never
held by him, was conferred upon John J. Pershing in 1919.