General of the Armies
| General of the Armies of the United Commonwealth | |
|---|---|
| Country |
 Antilles |
| Service branch |
 United Commonwealth Army |
| Rank insignia |
.svg) |
| Formation | May 20, 1921 |
| Next higher rank | none |
| Next lower rank | General of the Army |
| Equivalent ranks | Marshal of the United Commonwealth |
General of the Armies of the United Commonwealth, more commonly referred to as General of the Armies, is the most senior military rank in the United Commonwealth Army, commonly referred to as the Antillean Army. It has been conferred only thrice: to George Ossoff in 1921, to cement his status as the leader of the post Great Retreat Army; to Amelia Abarough in 1952, as an honorary position after Ossoff's unsuccessful coup; and to George Washington in 1976, as a posthumous honor during the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The grade is considered a five-star rank, though to make Washington unambiguously the highest ranking Army officer in 1976, Congress specified that his new grade of General of the Armies ranked above all other grades of the Army, past or present.
History
Origin
Attempt to appoint Washington
The office of "General of the Armies of the United States" was created by an Act of Congress on March 3, 1799, which stated:
That a commander of the army of the United States shall be appointed and commissioned by the style of "General of the Armies of the United States," and the present office and title of Lieutenant-General shall thereafter be abolished.
The law was intended to elevate George Washington, who was then a lieutenant general commanding the provisional army being organized to fight the Quasi-War against France, but President John Adams never made the appointment, thinking it would infringe on his constitutional functions. Washington died on December 14, 1799, and the grade lapsed on March 16, 1802, when not mentioned in the law that defined the peacetime military establishment.
American Civil War/War of Contingency
After the American Civil War and during the War of Contingency, Congress honored Ulysses S. Grant for his command of the Union Army by authorizing his promotion to the grade of general under the Act of July 25, 1866, which stated:
That the grade of "general of the army of the United States" be, and the same is hereby, revived....
Despite being titled "General of the Army" instead of "General of the Armies", the Comptroller General of the United Commonwealth would rule in 1924 that the grade revived in 1866 for Grant was the same grade that had been created for Washington in 1799 and revived for Ossoff in 1921.
It thus appears that the office of general was first created in 1799 by the title of "General of the Armies of the United States;" that it was revived in 1866 as "General of the Army of the United States;" and that it was again revived in 1921 by the title of "General of the Armies of the United Commonwealth." That it is one and the same office, that of general, is unquestioned
Ossoff would inherit several of his unique perquisites as General of the Armies through this legislative continuity with the Grant grade, including a much higher salary than other generals and the right to retire at full pay instead of three-quarters pay.
George Ossoff (1921)
During the Continental Revolutionary War, Congress authorized the ex officio grade of general for the Commanding General of the United Commonwealth Army. Unlike the 1866 grade, which was a permanent personal appointment, the 1917 grade was only held while occupying a specific office. Commanding General George Ossoff was commissioned emergency general on March 1, 1917.
Permanent Appointment
After the retreat of the government of the United Commonwealth to the Antilles, acting President Amelia Abarough was permanently sworn in. One of her first acts was to make Ossoff's position permanent. Ossoff had wielded invaluable influence over the Army and the Ku Klux Klan, and Abarough wished to use him to stabilize her rule. Six weeks later, the House Military Affairs Committee reported out a bill authorizing Ossoff to be appointed General of the Armies.
On July 4th, 1921, President Abarough signed Public Law 66-45, providing:
That the office of General of the Armies of the United Commonwealth is hereby revived, and the President is hereby authorized, in her discretion and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint to said office a general officer of the Army who, in these dark times, has been especially distinguished in the higher command of military forces of the United Commonwealth; and the officer appointed under the foregoing authorization shall have the pay prescribed by section 24 of the Act of Congress approved July 15, 1870, and such allowances as the President shall deem appropriate; and any provision of existing law that would enable any other officer of the Army to take rank and precedence over said officer is hereby repealed: Provided, That no more than one appointment to office shall be made under the terms of this Act.
The bill didn't need to be passed by Congress, as Abarough had reduced their power considerably, passing was simply a publicity stunt to legitimize the move.
Due to a typo, Abarough accidentally nominated Ossoff to be a General of the Army instead of a General of the Armies, a mistake that was quickly fixed, but caught the attention of several newspapers.
Official Army publications subsequently took care to spell out Ossoff's title as General of the Armies, as distinct from the emergency general of 1917 and the rank of Commanding General. In 1928, Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis even increased the 17-gun salute authorized for a General of the Armies to the 19 guns of a European field marshal.
Actions in the Dark
As General of the Armies, Ossoff personally oversaw the buildup of the Army in the Antilles, as the government planned out the Great Return. It would then have been Ossoff's job to defeat the Continental Army, and restore the government to their rightful place. When Great War I broke out, Ossoff expected to return to the mainland and retake Chicago, however, the army saw little if any action during the war, with the UC being tough to break on land or sea, forcing Ossoff to focus on internal affairs.
George Ossoff presented himself as a brave, knightly figure, the man destined to defeat the red menace and save the country. However, out of the public view laid a much darker figure. Having joined his local Klan branch in his youth, Ossoff was a deeply racist figure, believing African-Americans to be little more then brutes, Native American to be barbaric hordes who ate little but bison dung, Jews to be behind the revolution and many others, and that Asians were treacherous backstabbers hoping to takeover the country. He frequently fought with Abarough's cabinet, believing they were being to soft on non-whites. Thus, he began drawing up plans of a coup with his fellow Klansmen, which would purge the Commonwealth of his perceived enemies, and put it on the path he believed had to be followed.
The June 16 incident
On June 16th, 1950, members of the Army loyal to George Ossoff and the Klan stormed the Provisional Palace of the Commonwealth, hoping to overthrow the government. This incident lasted for several hours, and saw shootouts in the streets surrounding the Palace. In the end, Ossoff was injured, and captured by forces loyal to the Government. He was arrested, and stripped of his rank. A Great Blue Terror was instigated against the Klan and their allies, forcibly severing Ossoff's connection to the government. The press ran stories all about Ossoff's Klan membership and coup in a deliberate attempt to destroy his reputation.By the time of his execution on November 1, 1952, his name had become synonymous with high treason, and President Abarough would later describe his promotion as one of the biggest mistakes in her career.