Establishment of the US Regular Army

Background. The United States Department of War, also called the War Department and occasionally the War Office in its early years, was the Cabinet department responsible for operating and maintaining the United States Army. Shortly after a government under President George Washington was established in 1789, Congress reestablished the department as a civilian agency to administer the field army.

Institutional Framework. The reestablished War Department placed the field army under the president as commander-in-chief and the secretary of war, a civilian who handled finance and purchases and held a minor role in directing military affairs. The department existed from August 7, 1789, and the army it administered was designated as the army of the United States in the Constitution.

Early Character of the Force. In its first century the United States Army was maintained as a small peacetime force, manning permanent forts and performing non-wartime duties such as engineering and construction works. The regular force was later reorganized as the Legion of the United States in 1791 following St. Clair's defeat, and renamed the United States Army in 1796.