Sergeant Major A Rank Evolution

When George Washington was forming the Continental Army in 1772, he patterned it after the British. Ranks from private to sergeant major were established. All the same Sergeants Major chevrons didn’t appear on an American soldier’s sleeve until almost 100 years later.

The provenance of the sergeant major can be traced back to the 15th century. Rudyard Kipling described the senior noncommissioned soldier as the backbone of the Army. Early French and English sergeants major were the predecessors of the present-day United States Army Chief of Staff’s senior enlisted advisors.

In 1591, Giles Clayton transcribed, “A sergeant major…ought to be a man of great courage, for that his office is always to be in the face of the enemy.”

Robert Barret was a professional soldier mentioned in 1598. He elaborated that the sergeant major delivered the password to regimental sergeants and that the sergeants “ought to carry great respect unto the sergeant major.”

British Tradition

The first British use of the term was around 1680, when it was applied to the senior sergeant under the command of a regimental colonel, but it wasn’t formalized until 1797, when the sergeant major