George Baylor (12 January 1752–9 November 1784), Continental army officer, was born at Newmarket in Caroline County, the large plantation of his parents, John Baylor (1705–1772) and Frances Walker Baylor. He was the third of six sons and sixth of twelve children, of whom two each of his brothers and sisters died in infancy. George Baylor was educated in England but, unlike his elder brother John Baylor, evidently did not attend university there. He probably returned to Virginia soon after the death of his father in order to manage the plantation he had inherited.
Baylor ran unsuccessfully for the House of Burgesses in the summer of 1774, but on the following 10 November he was elected to the Caroline County Committee that was formed to enforce the terms of the nonimportation agreement that the First Continental Congress had adopted. He also joined the local volunteer company with the rank of lieutenant. In July 1775 he went to Philadelphia and persuaded Edmund Pendleton, Benjamin Harrison, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee to recommend him for the staff of George Washington, an old friend of Baylor's father. Washington had him appointed a lieutenant colonel in the Continental army, and Baylor served as an aide-de-camp on Washington's staff from 15 August 1775 until January 1777. Washington complained privately that Baylor was inexperienced and "not, in the smallest degree, a Penman, though Spirited and willing." Baylor belonged in the field and took part in the Battle of Trenton late in December 1776, after which Washington chose him to take news of the victory to Congress. In a letter to the legislators, Washington again praised Baylor's spirit and recommended him for promotion. When Baylor reported to Congress in Baltimore on the morning of 1 January 1777, Congress immediately resolved "That a horse, properly caparisoned for service, be presented to Lieutenant Colonel Baylor, and that he be recommended to General Washington to be appointed to the command of a regiment of light horse." On 9 January 1777 Washington gave Baylor command of the 3d Continental Dragoons. Baylor returned to Virginia during the spring of 1778 to obtain horses for the cavalry, and while there he married Lucy Page on 30 May 1778. They subsequently had two sons.
On the night of 27–28 September 1778, Baylor was quartered with his troops at Old Tappan, New York, about two and a half miles from the main army. A British force under Major General Charles Grey surprised Baylor's unit and attacked with fixed bayonets, killing, wounding, and capturing many men in an unusually bloody action. Baylor received a bayonet thrust in his lungs and was taken prisoner. On 19 October, while still in captivity, he defended his actions in a letter to Washington, who never reprimanded him even though other officers questioned whether he had taken proper precautions to protect the camp. Baylor was later exchanged and returned to service as colonel of the 1st Continental Dragoons. His regiment guarded Congress in Philadelphia during October 1779, and the following December he was ordered to the southern states, where he saw action during the final years of the war. Although he still suffered from his wound, he remained an enterprising officer, served through the end of the war, and received a brevet promotion to brigadier general on 30 September 1783.
Early in May 1784 Baylor left Virginia for Bridgetown, Barbados, in hopes of recovering his health. The trip was in vain. George Baylor died there of complications from his old wound on 9 November 1784 and was buried the next day in the churchyard of Saint Michael's Cathedral, Bridgetown.
Sources Consulted:
Thomas Demarest, "The Baylor Massacre—Some Assorted Notes and Information," Bergen County History (1971): 29 –93 (portrait, 61); Marshall Wingfield, A History of Caroline County, Virginia (1924), 374 –375; all published sources agree on birth date, although a family Bible record prepared after 1850 (copies in Library of Virginia, Accession 25990, and at Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Richmond) gives variant date of 17 Jan. 1752; undated marriage notice in Williamsburg Virginia Gazette (Purdie), 12 June 1778; transcript of will, dated 6 May 1783 with codicils of 26 Jan. and 6 May 1784, and proved in court in Virginia on 14 Apr. 1785, and documents that identify sons in Baylor v. Buckner suit papers, Spotsylvania Superior Court of Chancery; correspondence with Washington in George Washington Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Baylor is mentioned often in letters of Washington, other Continental army officers, and members of Congress.