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	December 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