United States Secretary of War

The **Secretary of War** was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789.  Benjamin Lincoln and later Henry Knox held the position. When Washington was inaugurated as the first president under the Constitution, he appointed Knox to continue serving.

The Secretary of War led the War Department. At first, he was responsible for all military affairs. In 1798, the Secretary of the Navy was added to the cabinet, and the scope of this office was reduced to a general concern with the Army. In 1947, the departments were recombined under the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary of War was replaced by the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Air Force, non-Cabinet positions under the Secretary of Defense.

In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the use of Secretary of War as a secondary title for the secretary of defense, though an act of Congress would be required to change the official title.

## Secretaries of War

|#|Picture|Name|State of Residence|Began Service|Ended Service|President(s) served under|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1||Henry Knox|Massachusetts|September 12, 1789|December 31, 1794|George Washington|
|2||Timothy Pickering|Pennsylvania|January 2, 1795|December 10, 1795|Washington|
|3||James McHenry|Maryland|January 27, 1796|May 13, 1800|Washington John Adams|
|4||Samuel Dexter|Massachusetts|May 13, 1800|January 31, 1801|John Adams|
|5|N/A|Henry Dearborn|Massachusetts|March 5, 1801|March 4, 1809|Thomas Jefferson|
|6||William Eustis|Massachusetts|March 7, 1809|January 13, 1813|James Madison|
|7||John Armstrong, Jr.|Pennsylvania|January 13, 1813|September 27, 1814|Madison|
|8||James Monroe|Virginia|September 27, 1814|March 2, 1815|Madison|
|9||William Harris Crawford|Georgia|August 1, 1815|October 22, 1816|Madison|
|10||John Caldwell Calhoun|South Carolina|October 8, 1817|March 4, 1825|James Monroe|
|11||James Barbour|Virginia|March 7, 1825|May 23, 1828|John Quincy Adams|
|12||Peter Buell Porter|New York|May 23, 1828|March 4, 1829|J. Q. Adams|
|13||John Henry Eaton|Tennessee|March 9, 1829|June 18, 1831|Andrew Jackson|
|14||Lewis Cass|Michigan|August 1, 1831|October 5, 1836|Jackson|
|15||Joel Roberts Poinsett|South Carolina|March 7, 1837|March 4, 1841|Martin Van Buren|
|16||John Bell|Tennessee|March 5, 1841|September 13, 1841|William Henry Harrison John Tyler|
|17||John Canfield Spencer|New York|October 12, 1841|March 4, 1843|Tyler|
|18|N/A|James Madison Porter|Pennsylvania|March 8, 1843|February 14, 1844|Tyler|
|19||William Wilkins|Pennsylvania|February 15, 1844|March 4, 1845|Tyler|
|20||William Learned Marcy|New York|March 6, 1845|March 4, 1849|James K. Polk|
|21|N/A|George Walker Crawford|Georgia|March 8, 1849|July 22, 1850|Zachary Taylor|
|22||Charles Magill Conrad|Louisiana|August 15, 1850|March 4, 1853|Millard Fillmore|
|23||Jefferson Davis|Mississippi|March 7, 1853|March 4, 1857|Franklin Pierce|
|24||John Buchanan Floyd|Virginia|March 6, 1857|December 29, 1860|James Buchanan|
|25||Joseph Holt|Kentucky|January 18, 1861|March 4, 1861|Buchanan|
|26||Simon Cameron|Pennsylvania|March 5, 1861|January 14, 1862|Abraham Lincoln|
|27||Edwin McMasters Stanton|Ohio|January 20, 1862|May 28, 1868|Lincoln Andrew Johnson|
|28||John McAllister Schofield|Missouri|June 1, 1868|March 13, 1869|Johnson|
|29||John Aaron Rawlins|Illinois|March 13, 1869|September 6, 1869|Ulysses S. Grant|
|30||William Worth Belknap|Iowa|October 25, 1869|March 2, 1876|Grant|
|31||Alphonso Taft|Ohio|March 8, 1876|May 22, 1876|Grant|
|32||James Donald Cameron|Pennsylvania|May 22, 1876|March 4, 1877|Grant|
|33||George Washington McCrary|Iowa|March 12, 1877|December 10, 1879|Rutherford B. Hayes|
|34||Alexander Ramsey|Minnesota|December 10, 1879|March 4, 1881|Hayes|
|35||Robert Todd Lincoln|Illinois|March 5, 1881|March 4, 1885|James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur|
|36||William Crowninshield Endicott|Massachusetts|March 5, 1885|March 4, 1889|Grover Cleveland|
|37||Redfield Proctor|Vermont|March 5, 1889|November 5, 1891|Benjamin Harrison|
|38|N/A|Stephen Benton Elkins|West Virginia|December 17, 1891|March 4, 1893|Harrison|
|39||Daniel Scott Lamont|New York|March 5, 1893|March 4, 1897|Cleveland (2nd term)|
|40||Russell Alexander Alger|Michigan|March 5, 1897|August 1, 1899|William McKinley|
|41||Elihu Root|New York|August 1, 1899|January 31, 1904|McKinley Theodore Roosevelt|
|42||William Howard Taft|Ohio|February 1, 1904|June 30, 1908|Th. Roosevelt|
|43||Luke Edward Wright|Tennessee|July 1, 1908|March 4, 1909|Th. Roosevelt|
|44||Jacob McGavock Dickinson|Illinois|March 12, 1909|May 21, 1911|William Howard Taft|
|45||Henry Lewis Stimson|New York|May 22, 1911|March 4, 1913|Taft|
|46||Lindley Miller Garrison|New Jersey|March 5, 1913|February 10, 1916|Woodrow Wilson|
|47||Newton Diehl Baker|Ohio|March 9, 1916|March 4, 1921|Wilson|
|48||John Wingate Weeks|Massachusetts|March 5, 1921|October 13, 1925|Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge|
|49||Dwight Filley Davis|Missouri|October 14, 1925|March 4, 1929|Coolidge|
|50||James William Good|Iowa|March 6, 1929|November 18, 1929|Herbert Hoover|
|51||Patrick Jay Hurley|Oklahoma|December 9, 1929|March 4, 1933|Hoover|
|52||George Henry Dern|Utah|March 4, 1933|August 27, 1936|Franklin D. Roosevelt|
|53||Harry Hines Woodring|Kansas|September 25, 1936|June 20, 1940|F. D. Roosevelt|
|54||Henry Lewis Stimson|New York|July 10, 1940|September 21, 1945|F. D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman|
|55||Robert Porter Patterson|New York|September 27, 1945|July 18, 1947|Truman|
|56||Kenneth Claiborne Royall|North Carolina|July 19, 1947|September 18, 1947|Truman|