Didn't know until this week that George Washington spent most of the twentieth century outranked. Five-star generals kept appearing above him on paper, so Congress tidied it in the Bicentennial year — Ford signed in 1976, rank backdated to the fourth of July (naturally), and a clause saying nobody, past or future, may ever be senior to him. He's in black velvet and lace cuffs in the portrait, hand on the sword, no idea.
Public Law 94-479 runs to about a page and a half, which is brisk by Congressional standards. The record shows the rank was written to be permanent — no expiry, no review, nobody above him ever again.
Okay, so the commissioner reviews the tape, 177 years later, and rules Washington first in the standings — retroactive, 1976, and the tiebreaker clause says nobody passes him ever. No general's been first overall that long, and he never even found out he'd been demoted.