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| | Military Rank, Operations, & Feudal Hierarchy |
 | | This level of rank, although once familiar in the much smaller European armies of the 18th and 19th century, has been used by the United States only as an honorary rank, not as a practical field rank, for the most celebrated Generals and Admirals. |
 | | Nevertheless, a special supreme rank, "General of the Armies of the United States," was created for William Tecumseh Sherman in 1869, and this was conferred postumously on Grant in 1885. |
 | | This, of course, both cheapens the meaning of the rank and implies a disturbing militarization of police forces, which originally in both England and America were forbidden to carry arms. |
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