Born to slave parents in 1831, George Washington Daniels was forced to fight during the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. When the company he was with suffered almost complete loss of soldiers, George, covered himself with bloodied clothes of his comrades and pretended to be dead. As officers came through searching for survivors, he was kicked over but successfully maintained his ruse. After nightfall, he crawled across the Union lines and joined forces with them and later was, as a free man,  mustered out of the grand army in Washington, D.C.

After the war, General LaDue sent George to Hastings, MN on horseback with nine other horses. After his long ride to Hastings in 1866, he stayed and was employed by LaDue for another 18 years. During that time he met and married his wife, Chloe (1871). In 1885, George and his family moved to Brookings County, SD where he procured a farm, improved it, and after 27 years sold it for enough money to keep him comfortable the rest of his life.

George and his family then returned to his native state of Georgia, but after only 6 years, they returned to South Dakota broke and looking for work to sustain them. Apparently the war was not over in the south and George lost all of his money paying fines and bonds to keep his family out of jail on ‘trumped up’ charges. The Daniels’ settled in Watertown, SD and George took odd jobs until the time of his death.

George was remembered for being a fair and wise man, a good farmer and an excellent athlete. Whenever there were festivals in the area, George always came away with medals for his athletic achievements. During his funeral in White, all business houses closed in respect to his memory. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic for his service in Co. E, 79th Regiment of the Ohio Infantry.