The office of the Quartermaster General was established by resolution of the Continental Congress on 16 June 1775, but the position was not filled until 14 August 1775.

During this period Quartermasters General would be act like chiefs of staff for the commanders of the Continental Army, acting as the prime supplier and businessmen for dealing with civilians, operated and repaired supply lines, which included the roads which they traveled upon, was responsible for transporting troops and furnished all the supplies needed to establish camps when the troops got there.

As a combat veteran, Jessup understood the importance of support to front line soldiers and instituted many enduring practices and policies.

Rufus Ingalls, a brevet brigadier general and quartermaster for all Union Army forces during the Siege of Petersburg succeeded Rucker.

Samuel B. Holabird, who was chief quartermaster of the Union Department of the Gulf during much of the Civil War, succeeded Ingalls and served from July 1, 1883, to June 16, 1890.

Richard Napoleon Batchelder, quartermaster for II Corps of the Union Army and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, succeeded Holabird.

Another brevet brigadier general who had served as quartermaster for II Corps, Charles G. Sawtelle, succeeded Batchelder.

Ludington succeeded in improving the supply situation of the U.S. Army to an adequate state in a matter of months after the start of the war.

[3] Under existing laws the Quartermaster's Department, under the direction of the Secretary of War, provides the Army with military stores and supplies requisite for its use, such as clothing and equipage, tents, band instruments, tableware and mess furniture, equipments for post bakeries, fuel, forage, stationery, lumber, straw for bedding for men and animals, all materials for camp, and for shelter for troops and stores, furniture for barracks, such as bunks, benches, chairs, tables, lockers, heating and cooking stoves for use in public barracks and quar ters, tools for mechanics and laborers in the Quartermaster's Department, furniture.

Sharpe and Aleshire succeeded at eliminating the unwieldy centralized control of the army supply system that had grown up after the end of the American Civil War.

[4] In addition to creating administrative departments at his headquarters to manage the day to day operations of the Quartermaster Corps, Aleshire replaced centralized purchasing with a decentralized system that saved time and money by enabling department, division, and unit quartermasters to procure supplies locally.

[5] Sharpe succeeded his friend and was named the 24th Quartermaster General on September 16, 1916; his term in office was to end on July 21, 1918.

However, their uncoordinated procurement due to the Sharpe-Aleshire decentralization resulted in excessive and unbalanced railway shipments that overtaxed port facilities and finally developed into a serious congestion of the railroad system in the winter of 1917–18.

On December 15, 1917, a War Council was formed (as distinct from the Council of National Defense) consisting of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army Tasker H. Bliss, the Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, his Assistant and some subordinates amongst whom were Quartermaster General Henry Granville Sharpe and Chief of Ordnance William Crozier.

While serving on the Council on 18 December 1917, General Sharpe was required to delegate all his administrative duties to an acting chief Quartermaster designated by the Secretary of War Newton D. Baker to be George Washington Goethals.

[7] In June 1918, General Sharpe was relieved from duty with the War Council and assigned to the command of the Southeastern Department.

As Quartermaster General during World War II, he oversaw the development, procurement and distribution of billions of dollars worth of equipment and supplies.

In addition, he had responsibility for over 900,000 civilian personnel employed by contractors to produce supplies, equipment, ammunition and vehicles for the war effort.

In 2016, Bingham was promoted to lieutenant general, and became the 14th U.S. Army assistant chief of staff for installation management (ACSIM).

He currently serves as the Director for Logistics, Engineering and Security Cooperation (J4), U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii.

Donahue pinned on the rank of brigadier general during a promotion ceremony June 24 at the Army Women's Museum.