George Galphin was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Indian trader, Indian Commissioner, and plantation owner

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 who lived and conducted business in the colonies of Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 and South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, primarily around what is today the Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia

Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...

, area.

Early life

Galphin was born in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 in the early 18th century to Barbara and Thomas Galphin, a linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....

 weaver by trade. Galphin came to America in 1737, arriving at the port of harleston, outh Carolina. In the 1740s, Galphin found work from Brown, Rae, and Company, a trading firm based out of Augusta.

Indian trader

George Galphin became a highly respected trader among the Lower Creek tribes in the Georgia and South Carolina region within a few years of arriving in America. Eventually he came to own the Silver Bluff trading post. In the 1760s he was involved in a project with fellow trader John Rae encouraging Irish immigration to the region. On the Georgia side of the Savannah River

Savannah River

The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...

, these immigrants were encouraged to move onto a 50000 acres (202.3 km²) tract of land called Queensborough.

Revolutionary War service

During the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

 Galphin sided with the Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

, serving as one of its Indian Commissioners for the South. On May 1, 1776, the Creek Nation

Muscogee (Creek) Nation

The Muscogee Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Muscogee people, also known as the Creek, based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. They are regarded as one of the historical Five Civilized Tribes and call themselves Este Mvskokvlke...

 met as a whole with Galphin, who convinced the Creeks to remain neutral in the burgeoning conflict between the British and the revolutionaries. This successfully frustrated the efforts of the British to enlist sufficient Native American support throughout the South to overpower the comparatively small colonist population. Henry Laurens

Henry Laurens

Henry Laurens was an American merchant and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laurens succeeded John Hancock as President of the Congress...

 credited Galphin for helping to secure both Georgia and South Carolina for the Revolution.

Legacy

Following his death in 1780, his estate became involved in protracted litigation

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

. On November 23, 1792, William Dunbar, Galphin estate executor and assistant to Galphin during the Revolution, petitioned Congress on behalf of the Galphin estate for compensation for services rendered as Commissioner of Indian Affairs; the Senate declined to refer the petition to committee. His estate was at dispute in Milligan v. Milledge. The estate eventually became the center of the Galphin Affair

Galphin Affair

The Galphin Affair was the disputed settlement over the Galphin estate, where George W. Crawford took 50% of the claim for himself. Crawford at the time was working as a part of President Zachary Taylor’s Cabinet.-Background:...

 political scandal involving prominent political figures such as George W. Crawford

George W. Crawford

George Walker Crawford was a Georgia politician during the nineteenth century. He served as the 38th Governor of Georgia from 1843 to 1847 and United States Secretary of War 1849 to 1850. He was the cousin of William H...

.