United States Department of War - wikipedia United States Department of War See also : History of the United States Army United States Department of War The seal of the U.S. Department of War. Executive department overview Formed August 7, 1789 Dissolved September 18, 1947 Superseding agencies Department of the Army Department of the Air Force Minister responsible Secretary of War Child executive department U.S. Army The United States Department of War, also called the War Department ( and occasionally War Office in the early years ), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, also bearing responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798, and for most land - based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947. The Secretary of War, a civilian with such responsibilities as finance and purchases and a minor role in directing military affairs, headed the War Department throughout its existence. The War Department existed from August 7, 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it split into Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force and joined the Department of the Navy as part of the new joint National Military Establishment ( NME ), renamed the United States Department of Defense in 1949. Contents 1 History 1.1 1790 -- 1800 1.2 1800 -- 1860 1.3 American Civil War to 1898 1.4 1898 -- 1939 1.5 World War I 1.6 World War II 1.7 Postwar 2 Office space 3 Organization 4 Seal of the department 5 See also 6 Notes and references 7 Bibliography 8 External links History The seal of the Board of War and Ordnance, which the U.S. War Department 's seal is derived from. The emblem of the Department of the Army, derived from the seal of the U.S. War Department. Shortly after the establishment of a strong government under President George Washington in 1789, Congress created the War Department as a civilian agency to administer the field army under the president ( as commander in chief ) and the secretary of war. Retired senior General Henry Knox, then in civilian life, served as the first United States Secretary of War. 1790 -- 1800 Forming and organizing the department and the army fell to Secretary Knox. Direct field command of the small Regular Army by President Washington leading a column of troops west through Pennsylvania to Fort Cumberland in Maryland in 1794 to combat the incipient Whiskey Rebellion on the frontier was an occasion never since used by American Presidents. The Possibility of re-organizing a `` New Army '' under nominal command of retired President and Major General George Washington and his aide, former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to deal with the rising tide of maritime incidents between American commerce ships and the new French Republic was authorized by second President John Adams in 1798 and the remote possibility of land invasion was an interesting adventure. On November 8, 1800 the War Department building with its records and files was consumed by fire. 1800 -- 1860 Foundation of the new military academy at West Point along the Hudson River upstream from New York City in 1802 was important to the future growth of the American army. In August 1814 during the Burning of Washington, the United States Department of War building was also burned - however the War and State Department files had been removed - all books and record had been saved ; the only records of the War Department lost were recommendations of appointments for the Army and letters received from seven years previous. The multiple failures and fiascos of the War of 1812 convinced Washington that thorough reform of the War Department was necessary. Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun reorganized the department into a system of bureaus, whose chiefs held office for life, and a commanding general in the field, although the Congress did not authorize this position. Winfield Scott became the senior general until the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The bureau chiefs acted as advisers to the Secretary of War while commanding their own troops and field installations. The bureaus frequently conflicted among themselves, but in disputes with the commanding general, the Secretary of War generally supported the bureaus. Congress regulated the affairs of the bureaus in detail, and their chiefs looked to that body for support. Calhoun set up the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824, the main agency within the War Department for dealing with Native Americans until 1849, when the Congress transferred it to the newly founded Department of the Interior. American Civil War to 1898 Main article : Union Army During the American Civil War, the War Department responsibilities expanded. It handled the recruiting, training, supply, medical care, transportation and pay of two million soldiers, comprising both the regular army and the much larger temporary volunteer army. A separate command structure took charge of military operations. In the late stages of the war, the Department took charge of refugees and freedmen ( freed slaves ) in the American South through the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. During Reconstruction, this bureau played a major role in supporting the new Republican governments in the southern states. When military Reconstruction ended in 1877, the U.S. Army removed the last troops from military occupation of the American South, and the last Republican state governments in the region ended. The Army comprised hundreds of small detachments in forts around the West, dealing with Indians, and in coastal artillery units in port cities, dealing with the threat of a naval attack. 1898 -- 1939 The United States Army, with 39,000 men in 1890 was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France had an army of 542,000. Temporary volunteers and state militia units mostly fought the Spanish -- American War of 1898. This conflict demonstrated the need for more effective control over the department and its bureaus. Secretary of War Elihu Root ( 1899 -- 1904 ) sought to appoint a chief of staff as general manager and a European - type general staff for planning, aiming to achieve this goal in a businesslike manner, but General Nelson A. Miles stymied his efforts. Elihu Root enlarged the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and established the United States Army War College and the General Staff. He changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Concerned about the new territories acquired after the Spanish -- American War, Elihu Root worked out the procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, wrote the charter of government for the Philippines, and eliminated tariffs on goods imported to the United States from Puerto Rico. Root 's successor as Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, returned to the traditional secretary - bureau chief alliance, subordinating the chief of staff to the adjutant general, a powerful office since its creation in 1775. Indeed, Secretary Taft exercised little power ; President Theodore Roosevelt made the major decisions. In 1911, Secretary Henry L. Stimson and Major General Leonard Wood, his chief of staff, revived the Root reforms. The general staff assisted them in their efforts to rationalize the organization of the army along modern lines and in supervising the bureaus. World War I. The Congress reversed these changes in support of the bureaus and in the National Defense Act of 1916 reduced the size and functions of the general staff to few members before America entered World War I on April 6, 1917. President Woodrow Wilson supported Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, who opposed efforts to control the bureaus and war industry until competition for limited supplies almost paralyzed industry and transportation, especially in the North. Yielding to pressure from Congress and industry, Secretary Baker placed Benedict Crowell in charge of munitions and made Major General George W. Goethals acting quartermaster general and General Peyton C. March chief of staff. Assisted by industrial advisers, they reorganized the supply system of the army and practically wiped out the bureaus as quasi-independent agencies. General March reorganized the general staff along similar lines and gave it direct authority over departmental operations. After the war, the Congress again granted the bureaus their former independence. In the 1920s, General John J. Pershing realigned the general staff on the pattern of his American Expeditionary Force ( AEF ) field headquarters, which he commanded. The general staff in the early 1920s exercised little effective control over the bureaus, but the chiefs of staff gradually gained substantial authority over them by 1939, when General George Marshall assumed the office of Army Chief of Staff. World War II During World War II, General Marshall principally advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt on military strategy and expended little effort in acting as general manager of the Department of War. Many agencies still fragmented authority, burdening the chief of staff with too many details, making the whole Department of War poorly geared toward directing the army in a global war. General Marshall described the chief of staff then as a `` poor command post. '' President Roosevelt brought in Henry L. Stimson as Secretary of War ; after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Secretary Stimson supported General Marshall in reorganizing the army under the War Powers Act of 1941. He divided the Army of the United States ( AUS ) into three autonomous components to conduct the operations of the War Department : the Army Ground Forces ( AGF ) trained land troops ; the U.S. Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) developed an independent air arm ; and the Services of Supply ( later Army Service Forces ) directed administrative and logistical operations. The Operations Division acted as general planning staff for General Marshall. By 1942, the Army Air Forces gained virtual independence in every way from the rest of the army. Postwar After World War II, the Department of War abandoned organization of General George Marshall for the fragmented prewar pattern while the independent services continually parried efforts to reestablish firm executive control over their operations. The National Security Act of 1947, as amended in 1949, split the War Department into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, both within the Department of Defense, and the Secretary of the Army served as an operating manager for the new Secretary of Defense. Office space State, War, and Navy Building in 1917 In the early years, between 1797 and 1800, the Department of War was headquartered in Philadelphia ; it moved with the other federal agencies to the new national capital at Washington, District of Columbia, in 1800. In 1820, headquarters moved into a building at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, adjacent to the Executive Mansion, part of a complex of four matching brick Georgian / Federal style buildings for Cabinet departments with War in the northwest, Navy in the southwest and to the other side : State to the northeast and Treasury in the southeast. The War Department building was supplemented in the 1850s by a building across the street to the west known as the Annex and became very important during the Civil War with President Abraham Lincoln visiting the War Office 's telegraph room for constant updates and reports and walking back and forth to the `` Residence ''. The original 1820 structures for War and Navy on the west side of the now famous White House was replaced in 1888 by construction of a new building of French Empire design with mansard roofs, the `` State, War, and Navy Building '' ( now the Old Executive Office Building, and later renamed to honor General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower ), built in the same location as its predecessors. By the 1930s, the Department of State squeezed the War Department from its office space, and the White House also desired additional office space. In August 1939, Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring and Acting Chief of Staff of the Army George C. Marshall moved their offices into the Munitions Building, a temporary structure built on the National Mall during World War I. In the late 1930s, the government constructed the War Department Building ( renamed in 2000 as the Harry S Truman Building ) at 21st and C Streets in Foggy Bottom, but upon completion, the new building did not solve the space problem of the department, and the Department of State ultimately used it and continues to use it into the present day. Coming into office with World War II breaking out in Europe, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson faced with the situation of the War Department spread through the overcrowded Munitions Building and numerous other buildings across Washington, D.C., and suburban Maryland and Virginia. On July 28, 1941, Congress authorized funding for a new Department of War building in Arlington, Virginia, which would house the entire department under one roof. When construction of the Pentagon was completed in 1943, the Secretary of War vacated the Munitions Building and the department began moving into the Pentagon. Organization The United States Secretary of War, a member of the United States Cabinet, headed the War Department. The National Security Act of 1947 merged the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment, later the United States Department of Defense. On the same day this act was signed, Executive Order 9877 assigned primary military functions and responsibilities with the former War Department functions divided between the new Army and Air Force departments. In the aftermath of World War II, the American government ( among others around the world ) decided to abandon the word ' War ' when referring to the civilian leadership of their military. One vestige of the former nomenclature are the Army War College, Naval War College and the Air War College, which still train U.S. military officers in battlefield tactics and the strategy of war fighting. Seal of the Department Main article : Department of the Army Seal and Emblem The date `` MDCCLXXVIII '' and the designation `` War Office '' are indicative of the origin of the seal. The date ( 1778 ) refers to the year of its adoption. The term `` War Office '' used during the Revolution, and for many years afterward, was associated with the Headquarters of the Army. See also Military of the United States portal Military history of the United States, for the main wars and actions United States Secretary of War United States Assistant Secretary of War Commanding General of the United States Army Chief of Staff of the United States Army Relative costs of American wars Summary of American Indian Wars 1832 -- 1918 Summary of Reports of Fifth Military District ( Texas ) 1866 -- 1870 Fort Yellowstone Notes and references Jump up ^ `` The Establishment of the Department of War - US House of Representatives : History, Art & Archives ''. house.gov. Retrieved December 16, 2016. Jump up ^ Chap. VII. 1 Stat. 49 from `` A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation : U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 -- 1875 ''. Library of Congress, Law Library of Congress. Retrieved March 24, 2012. Jump up ^ Richard H. Kohn, Eagle and Sword the Beginnings of the Military Establishment in America ( 1975 ) ch 6 ^ Jump up to : Methods, United States War Dept Board on Business ( 17 August 1889 ). `` Business Methods in the War Department : Report of the Board Appointed in Compliance with the Request of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate the Methods of Business in the Executive Departments ''. U.S. Government Printing Office -- via Google Books. Jump up ^ Charles M. Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, Nationalist, 1782 -- 1828 ( 1944 ) pp. 142 -- 54 Jump up ^ William S. Belko, `` ' John C. Calhoun and the Creation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs : An Essay on Political Rivalry, Ideology, and Policymaking in the Early Republic, '' South Carolina Historical Magazine 2004 105 ( 3 ) : 170 -- 197. ISSN 0038 - 3082 Jump up ^ Francis P. Prucha, The Great Father : The United States Government and the American Indians ( Abridged Edition 1986 ) excerpt and text search Jump up ^ George R. Bentley, A History of the Freedmen 's Bureau ( 1955 ) Jump up ^ Robert Marshall Utley, Frontier Regulars : The United States Army and the Indian, 1866 -- 1891 ( 1984 ) Jump up ^ Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers ( 1987 ) p. 154, 203 Jump up ^ Graham A. Cosmas, An Army for Empire : The United States Army and the Spanish -- American War ( 1971 ) Jump up ^ Warren Zimmermann, First Great Triumph : How Five Americans Made Their Country a World Power ( 2002 ) Jump up ^ Elting E. Morison, Turmoil and Tradition : A Study of the Life and Times of Henry L. Stimson ( 1960 ). Jump up ^ Goldberg, Alfred ( 1992 ). The Pentagon : The First Fifty Years. Office of Secretary of Defense / Government Printing Office. pp. 4 -- 9. Jump up ^ `` Intro -- Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army ''. United States Army Center of Military History. 1992. Retrieved 2008 - 10 - 17. Jump up ^ Vogel, Steve ( 2007 ). The Pentagon -- A History : The Untold Story of the Wartime Race to Build the Pentagon and to Restore it Sixty Years Later. Random House. pp. 29 -- 33. Jump up ^ Goldberg, Alfred ( 1992 ). The Pentagon : The First Fifty Years. Office of Secretary of Defense / Government Printing Office. p. 22. Jump up ^ http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1845 Bibliography Cline, Ray S. Washington Command Post : The Operations Division, United States Army in World War II. ( 1950 ) Coffman, Edward M. The Regulars : The American Army, 1898 -- 1941 ( 2007 ) excerpt and text search Coffman, Edward M. The hilt of the sword : the career of Peyton C. March ( 1966 ), on World War I Hewes, James E. From Root to McNamara : Army Organization and Administration, 1900 -- 1963. ( 1975 ) Koistinen, Paul A.C. Beating Plowshares into Swords : The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1606 -- 1865 ( 1996 ) excerpt and text search Koistinen, Paul A.C. Mobilizing for modern war : the political economy of American warfare, 1865 -- 1919 ( 1997 ) Koistinen, Paul A.C. Planning War, Pursuing Peace : The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1920 -- 1939 ( 1998 ) excerpt and text search Koistinen, Paul A.C. Arsenal of World War II : the political economy of American warfare, 1940 -- 1945 ( 2004 ) Shannon, Fred. The Organization and Administration of the Union Army 1861 -- 1865 ( 2 vol 1928 ) vol 1 excerpt and text search ; vol 2 excerpt and text search Pogue, Forrest C. George C. Marshall, Volume 2 : Ordeal and hope, 1939 -- 1942 ( 1967 ) Pogue, Forrest C. George C. Marshall, organizer of victory, 1943 -- 1945 ( 1973 ) White, Leonard D. The Federalists : a Study in Administrative History, ( 1948 ). White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians : A Study in Administrative History, 1801 -- 1829 ( 1965 ) White, Leonard D. The Jacksonians : A Study in Administrative History, 1829 -- 1861. ( 1965 ) White, Leonard D. The Republican Era, 1869 -- 1901 a Study in Administrative History, ( 1958 ) Wilson, Mark R. The Business of Civil War : Military Mobilization and the State, 1861 -- 1865 ( 2006 ) excerpt and text search External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States Secretary of War. External images 1945 War Department Organization Reconstruction of War Department Records from 1784 to 1800 Official Reports of the War of the Rebellion ( US Civil War ) 1861 -- 1865 ( published 1880 -- 1901 ) US Army General Orders for 1885 U.S. War Department, Operations Division Diary, 1941 -- 1946, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library American State Papers, 1789 to 1837 -- Library of Congress Works by United States Department of War at Project Gutenberg Works by or about United States Department of War at Internet Archive United States Armed Forces Book Portal MC AF CG MC AF CG PHS NOAA Navbox MC AF CG Leadership Commander - in - chief : President of the United States Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense Secretary of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Joint Chiefs of Staff : Chairman Vice Chairman United States Congress : Committees on Armed Services : Senate House Active duty four - star officers Highest ranking officers in history National Security Act of 1947 Goldwater -- Nichols Act Organization Service departments Department of Defense ( Secretary ) : Army ( Secretary ) Navy ( Secretary ) Air Force ( Secretary ) Department of Homeland Security ( Secretary ) : Coast Guard Branches Army ( Chief of Staff ) Marine Corps ( Commandant ) Navy ( Chief of Naval Operations ) Air Force ( Chief of Staff ) Coast Guard ( Commandant ) Reserve components Reserves : A MC N AF CG National Guard : A AF Civilian auxiliaries Military Auxiliary Radio System Merchant Marine Civil Air Patrol Coast Guard Auxiliary Unified Combatant Command Northern Central European Pacific Southern Africa Special Operations Strategic Transportation Structure United States Code Title 10 Title 14 Title 32 Title 50 The Pentagon Installations Units : A MC N AF CG Logistics Media Unit mottoes Operations and history Current deployments Conflicts Wars Timeline History : A MC N AF CG Colonial World War II Civil affairs African Americans Asian Americans Buddhist Americans Jewish Americans Muslim Americans Pakistani Americans Sikh Americans Historiography : A : 1 / 2 MC N AF Art : A AF Personnel Training MEPS ASVAB Recruit training : A MC N AF CG Officer candidate school : A MC N AF Warrant : A MC Service academies : A ( prep ) N ( prep ) AF ( prep ) CG Merchant Marine ROTC A : ECP MC / N AF Medical Other education Uniforms Uniforms : A MC N AF CG Awards & decorations : Inter-service A MC / N AF CG PHS NOAA Foreign International Devices Badges : Identification A MC N AF CG Ranks Enlisted : A MC N AF CG Warrant officers Officer : A MC N AF CG PHS NOAA Other Oath : Enlistment Office Creeds & Codes : Code of Conduct NCO A MC N AF CG Service numbers : A MC N AF CG Military Occupational Specialty / Rating / Air Force Specialty Code Pay Uniform Code of Military Justice Judge Advocate General 's Corps Military Health System / TRICARE Separation Veterans Affairs Conscription Chiefs of Chaplains : A MC N AF CG Equipment MC : vehicles weapons other AF CG Land Individual weapons Crew - served weapons Vehicles ( active ) Sea All watercraft Ships : A N ( active ) AF CG MSC NOAA Weapons : N CG Aircraft : N CG NOAA Reactors Air Aircraft World War I active Aircraft designation Missiles Helicopter arms Other Nuclear football Electronics ( designations ) Flags : A MC N AF CG Ensign Jack Guidons Food WMDs : Nuclear Biological Chemical Legend A = Army MC = Marine Corps N = Navy AF = Air Force CG = Coast Guard PHS = Public Health Service NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Federal executive departments of the United States of America Executive Departments Agriculture Commerce Defense Education Energy Health and Human Services Homeland Security Housing and Urban Development Interior Justice Labor State Transportation Treasury Veterans Affairs Former Air Force Army Commerce and Labor Health, Education, and Welfare Navy Post Office War VIAF : 312738563 LCCN : n79084108 ISNI : 0000 0001 2188 6929 GND : 118953 - 0 SUDOC : 027925277 BNF : cb11986369r ( data ) NLA : 35571766 BNE : XX101843 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Department_of_War&oldid=801061909 '' Categories : 1789 establishments in the United States 1949 disestablishments in the United States United States Department of War Former United States Executive Departments Hidden categories : Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Русский Simple English Српски / srpski ไทย Türkçe Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 17 September 2017, at 12 : 24. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: a place which houses the offices of the war department of usa
Answer: United States Department of War