<P> The United States federal civil service is the civilian workforce (i.e., non-elected and non-military, public sector employees) of the United States federal government's departments and agencies . The federal civil service was established in 1871 (5 U.S.C. § 2101). U.S. state and local government entities often have competitive civil service systems that are modeled on the national system, in varying degrees . </P> <P> According to the Office of Personnel Management, as of December 2011, there were approximately 2.79 million civil servants employed by the U.S. government . This includes employees in the departments and agencies run by any of the three branches government (the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch), such as over 600,000 employees in the U.S. Postal Service . </P>

When did the us military first began hiring civilian employees