Secretary of War

A defunct position within the presidential cabinet of the United States government, established on August 7, 1789.

Reconstituted in 1947 by the National Security Act. By 1949, the position of Secretary of War had been transformed into that of the Secretary of the Army and subsumed beneath the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Administrative History;
Records of the Office of the Secretary of War, Record Group 107;
National Archives of the United States

The following is a chronologically ordered list of all those who served as Secretary of War, beginning with the first secretary:

• Henry Knox
• Timothy Pickering
• James McHenry
• Samuel Dexter
• Henry Dearborn
• William Eustis
• John Armstrong
• James Monroe
• William H. Crawford
• George Graham
• John C. Calhoun
• James Barbour
• Peter B. Porter
• John H. Eaton
• Lewis Cass
• Joel R. Poinsett
• John Bell
• John C. Spencer
• James M. Porter (not confirmed by Senate)
• William Wilkins
• William L. Marcy
• George W. Crawford
• Charles M. Conrad
• Jefferson Davis
• John B. Floyd
• Joseph Holt
• Simon Cameron
• Edwin M. Stanton
• John M. Schofield
• John A. Rawlins
• William W. Belknap
• Alfonso Taft
• James D. Cameron
• George W. McCrary
• Alexander Ramsey
• Robert T. Lincoln
• William C. Endicott
• Redfield Proctor
• Stephen B. Elkins
• Daniel S. Lamont
• Russel A. Alger
• Elihu Root
• William H. Taft
• Luke E. Wright
• Jacob M. Dickinson
• Henry L. Stimson
• Lindley M. Garrison
• Newton D. Baker
• John W. Weeks
• Dwight F. Davis
• James W. Good
• Patrick J. Hurley
• George H. Dern
• Harry H. Woodring
• Henry L. Stimson

Michael Cowan 1996-8 MCowan@fujisan.demon.co.uk
www.infoplease.com

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