George W. Carter was born on February 3, 1840, in either Ohio or Pennsylvania to Grayson Carter and Cassandra Smith. His father was a coal miner and shoemaker who owned $150 of real estate and $200 of personal property. The family lived in Jefferson, Pennsylvania, until the 1850s, when they moved to Millsboro, Pennsylvania.
He enlisted in the Union army on September 4, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company K of the 140th Pennsylvania Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg.
His brother Thomas died at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. Nonetheless, his faith in the Union cause remained unshaken. As he informed their parents, Thomas died “performing his duty and to save his country.” He urged them not to grieve, assuring them that Thomas “fell in a good Caus and…died a good souger [soldier].”
Carter was wounded in the arm during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 12, 1864, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. As the election of 1864 approached, Carter wished the government “would not let the army vote atal for it will Just make a disturbance in the army.” He believed that President Abraham Lincoln “has done well…and no other one could of done better,” but he insisted that Lincoln had “no business of a meddling with [slavery] untill this rebelon was put doun.” He mustered out in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 1865.
Carter returned to Millsboro after the war, and he married Rebecca Dawson there around 1866. They had at least three children: Agnes, born around 1867; Helen, born around 1869; and Harry, born around 1872. He worked as a laborer, and by 1870, he owned $100 of personal property.
The family moved to East Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the 1870s, and by 1880, he was working as a stone mason. He and his wife may possibly have separated in the late 1800s. By 1900, he was living with his elderly father in East Bethlehem, while she was living with their son Harry in West Bethlehem. They got divorced by 1910, and he eventually settled in Luzerne, Pennsylvania. He died there on December 23, 1926.