Source: History of 115th Reg ILL Vol. Infantry
By: Isaac Henry Clay Royse
2nd Lt. Co. E
Published 1900 Windsor & Kenfield Pub. Co. Chicago
Library # 973.7473R892
Terre Haute, IN. July 1900

1st Sgt. George W. Sumter; Co. K 115th IL Reg. Infantry

Born in Athens, IL., Feb 25, 1829. His uncle, Thomas Sumter, fought in the Revolutionary War and was at the siege of Yorktown, ans saw the surrender of Cornwallis. His father, Jeptha Sumter, was in the Black Hawk war. He was partly educated in the same school that Abraham Lincoln attended. He learned the brick-making trade in Springfield, IL and afterwards worked in Terre Haute, Ind. He later learned the wagon maker’s trade and worked for a a while in New Orleans, then moved to St. Louis, and then to Leavenworth, Kan. Where he enlisted in a regiment of mounted riflemen, and crossed the plains to California in 1849; there he worked at mining and the carpenter trade until 1854, when he came to Athens, IL. He enlisted with Company K at its organization, and was with the regiment in the battle of Chickamauga, and its other engagements. Since the war Sergeant Sumter has had a varied career in business of different sorts, in which he has made considerable success. He has now retired from business, and resides at Hawley, Minn.

Submitted by William Baran