Although the first Adjutant, Lt. George W. Gardiner, was assigned to the Military Academy in October 1816, the duties of the position were first officially published in the 1839 edition of Regulations for the U.S. Military Academy. Paragraph 15 of these regulations states, "An officer of the Army shall be detailed to act as Adjutant of the Academy, who shall be charged with all the records and papers of the same, other than those relating to disbursements. He shall also act as secretary to the Academic Board, by whom all its proceedings shall be fully and fairly recorded." This statement of duties remained virtually unchanged for over 100 years.

Specifically, the Adjutant (the Adjutant General since 1940) has been charged with the promulgation of all orders, bulletins, circulars, memorandums, and regulations issued by Headquarters, USMA, and the maintenance of official correspondence and policy files. He also performed the duties of a college registrar from 1816 to 1949 and was responsible for candidate records, cadet personnel files and grades, and other academic records. The position of Registrar was established on January 5, 1949, and placed under the Adjutant's supervision until July 1958, when it was transferred to the Office of the Dean. The Adjutant has been involved in many post and Academy administrative functions; he sits on numerous boards and committees and at times has served additional duty as commissary, quartermaster, recruiting officer, commanding officer of the USMA Band, and librarian.

The Adjutant or Adjutant General served as secretary to the Academic Board almost continuously from December 1838 to July 1958, when the Registrar assumed the responsibility of secretary. The Adjutant was a member of the Superintendent's military staff until 1947, when he was placed on the Superintendent's special staff. The Adjutant General has been under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel and Administration since August 1954.

The current mission of the Adjutant General Division is to provide administrative and operational services for the Military Academy, the Post of West Point, and the Corps of Cadets in the areas of correspondence and records management, military personnel records, mail distribution, publications and reproduction, and data processing. The Adjutant General normally holds the rank of lieutenant colonel or colonel.