The first female American soldier was Deborah Sampson of Massachusetts. She enlisted as a Continental Army soldier under the name of "Robert Shurtliff". She served for three years in the Revolutionary War and was wounded twice; she cut a musket ball out of her own thigh so no doctor would find out she was a woman.

During the American Civil War, Sarah Rosetta Wakeman enlisted under the alias of Private Lyons Wakeman.

In the history of women in the military, there are records of female U.S. Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers who enlisted using male pseudonyms, but a letter written by Annie Oakley to President William McKinley on on April 5, 1898 may represent the earliest documentary proof of a political move towards recognizing a woman's right to serve in the United States military. Annie Oakley, Sharpshooter and star in the Buffalo Bill Show, wrote a letter to President William McKinley on April 5, 1898 "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should war break out with Spain.". The Spanish-American War did occur, but Oakley's offer was not accepted.

The Woman’s Army Auxiliary Corps was established in the United States in 1941.

The Woman’s Naval Reserve and Marine Corps Women’s Reserve were created during World War II. In July 1943 a bill was signed removing ‘auxiliary’ from the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, making it an official part of the regular army. In 1944 WACs arrived in the Pacific and landed in Normandy on D-Day. During the war, 67 Army nurses and 16 Navy nurses were captured and spent three years as Japanese prisoners of war. There were 350,000 American women who served during World War II and 16 were killed in action; in total, they gained over 1,500 medals, citations and commendations.

Virginia Hall, serving with the Office of Strategic Services, received the second-highest US combat award, the Distinguished Service Cross, for action behind enemy lines in France. Hall, who had one artificial leg, landed clandestinely in occupied territory aboard a British Motor Torpedo Boat.

Law 625, The Women's Armed Services Act of 1948, was signed by President Truman, allowing women to serve in the armed forces in fully integrated units during peacetime, with only the WAC remaining a separate female unit. During the Korean War, women serving in Korea numbered 120,000.

Records regarding American women serving in the Vietnam War are vague. However, it is recorded that 600 women served in the country as part of the Air Force, along with 500 members of the WAC, and over 6,000 medical personnel and support staff.

In 1974, the first six women aviators earned their wings as Navy pilots. The Congressionally mandated prohibition on women in combat places limitations on the pilots' advancement, but at least two retired as captains.

On December 20, 1989, Captain Linda L. Bray, 29, became the first woman to command American soldiers in battle, during the invasion of Panama. She was assigned to lead a force of 30 men and women military poliec officers to capture a kennel holding guard dogs that was defended by elements of the Panamanian Defense force.

The 1991 Persian Gulf War proved to be the pivotal time for the role of women in the United States armed forces to come to the attention of the world media. Over 40,000 women served in almost every role the armed forces had to offer. However, while many came under fire, they were not permitted to participate in deliberate ground engagements. Despite this, there are many reports of women engaging enemy forces during the conflict.

From 2005, the first all female C-130 Hercules crew to serve a combat mission for the U.S. Air Force.
Today, women can serve on American combat ships, including in command roles. There is a plan to allow women to serve on submarines.

The case United States v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court ordered that the Virginia Military Institute allow women to register as cadets, gave women soldiers a weapon against laws which (quoting Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg) “[deny] to women, simply because they are women, full citizenship stature—equal opportunity to aspire, achieve, participate in and contribute to society.”

In Afghanistan, Monica Lin Brown, was presented the Silver Star for shielding wounded soldiers with her body, and then treating life-threatening injuries.

As of November 2008, the U.S. military has only one woman, Ann E. Dunwoody (above), with the rank of four-star general.

In 2011, Major General Margaret H. Woodward commanded Operation Odyssey Dawn's air component, making her the first woman to command a U.S. combat air campaign.

The Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Department of Defense (DoD) to review the laws, policies and regulations restricting the service of female service members. As a result, DoD submitted the "Review of Laws, Policies and Regulations Restricting the Service of Female members in the U.S. Armed Forces," popularly known as the Women in Service Review, to Congress in February 2012.

According to the review, DoD intends to eliminate co-location exclusion (opening over 13,000 Army positions to women); grant exceptions to policy to assign women in open occupations to direct ground combat units at the battalion level; assess the suitability and relevance of direct ground combat unit assignment prohibition to inform future policy based on the results of theses exceptions to policy; and to further develop gender-neutral physical standards for closed specialties.