George Wheeler (1762-1835)
Historians have correctly labeled the American Revolution as the nation’s first civil war. No greater example of this internecine struggle can be found than in South Carolina, where the Revolution degenerated into a bitter-brothers war that was fought with little compassion or restraint. – Keith Krawczyinski
MARCH 31, 2026The earliest known records for George Wheeler (1762-1835) date from the American Revolution (1775-1783). In Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War, Vol. I, he is listed as a private in the South Carolina Royalist Army in three muster rolls: December 1, 1779 in Savannah, Georgia, as well as February 24, 1781 and April 24, 1781, in Camden, South Carolina.
In the December 1, 1779 muster role in Savannah, Georgia, George is listed as George Whealer [sic], a private in Lt. Colonel Joseph Robinson’s Company of the South Carolina Royalists. The South Carolina Royalists were part of the British colonial army. In November of 1775, Robinson led the Camden, South Carolina militia against the rebel Americans at the First Battle of Ninety-Six in the South Carolina backcountry. Eventually cut off with no supplies, Robinson and his men escaped through Cherokee and Creek lands. They arrived in St. Augustine in British East Florida in 1777, where Robinson was commissioned as a Lt. Colonel in the South Carolina Royalists.
Groups of Loyalists from the backcountry of South Carolina continued to make their way to St. Augustine. Ambushed by rebel militia, some turned back and some were taken prisoner. Those that made it close enough to the East Florida border were picked up by Loyalist Army units and taken to St. Augustine, where they were put under the command of Lt. Colonel Alexander Innes. When Innes was sent north on an assignment, Lt. Colonel Joseph Robinson took over his company until his return.
On December 29, 1778, British troops from New York captured Savannah. Reinforcements, which included Lt. Colonel Robinson’s company, marched from St. Augustine and reached Savannah in January of 1779. Robinson’s December 1, 1779 muster roll included Private George Whealer [sic], who would have been 17 years old, Corporal John Wheeler and Private Simon Addy. It’s not known whether John Wheeler had family ties to George, but it’s possible he was his father, brother, or other relative. After the war, George married Barbara Addy, possibly the daughter of Simon Addy. In the 1790 US census, George and Simon are recorded in Orangeburg District. John Wheeler was recorded in Edgefield County, Ninety-Six District.
Many settlers in South Carolina’s backcountry were given land grants by the King of England before the Revolution and remained Loyalists during much of the war. However, many changed their allegiance as Loyalist defeats mounted in South Carolina. George was no exception. In the February 24, 1781 muster roll for Lt. Colonel Alexander Innes’ Company of South Carolina Royalists at Camden, South Carolina, John Wheeler and Simon Addy were not recorded. George Wheeler was enlisted as a private for sixty days of service. On Innes’ muster roll of April 24, 1781, George Wheeler was noted as one of six soldiers who had deserted on April 19.
The last major battle in South Carolina took place on September 8, 1781 at Eutaw Springs. Both sides claimed victory but, critically, the Americans under General Nathanial Greene forced the Loyalists under Lt. Colonel Alexander Stewart to pull back toward Charleston. General Greene later commented on the fact that each army had deserters from the other side in their ranks.
Deserters from both sides fought against each other at Eutaw Springs, leading Greene to say that this late in the war, “we fought the enemy with British soldiers and they fought us with those of America.” (Crawford, p. 284)
Six weeks after Eutaw Springs, on October 19, 1781, the fighting essentially ended when General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown. However, the war did not officially end until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The occupation didn’t end until the last British troops evacuated New York at the end of November 1783.
George Wheeler’s enlistment in the South Carolina Royalists under Robinson and Innes suggests that he was living in the South Carolina backcountry when the war began. It’s not known exactly when he enlisted, but he would have been 17 in Lt. Colonel Robinson’s company in Savannah in 1779. When he deserted in the spring of 1781, he would have been 19.
After he deserted from the Royalist Army, did George fight with the American Army under General Greene at Eutaw Springs? There is no way to know with certainty what George did after he left Camden in April 1781.
In The Annals of Newberry, published in 1892, it states:
George Wheeler was born in South Carolina in 1759. At the age of sixteen he entered the American army and fought through the Revolutionary struggle.
George’s gravestone states his year of birth as 1762, not 1759. He may have been born in South Carolina, and he may have joined the army at the age of sixteen. But no evidence has been found, thus far, that he ever fought on the American side. It is certainly possible, though, that he fought with the American rebels before or after his service in the South Carolina Royalists.
Sources
1790 US Census, Orangeburg Co., SC, p 30, Simon Addy. Notes: Simon Addy, head of household with free white males over 16: 1; free white males under 16: 4; free white females: 3; slaves: 4; total: 12 people.
1790 US Census, Orangeburg Co., SC, p 26, George Wheeler. Notes: George was head of household with free white males over 16: 1; free males under 16: 1; free white females: 1; slaves: 0; total: 3 people.
Bumsted, J. M. “ROBINSON, JOSEPH,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003, (https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/robinson_joseph_5E.html.: accessed 5 Mar 2026).
Clark, Murtie June, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War, Vol. I (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1981), pp. 2, 4, 37; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/48291/images/SouthLoyalistsI-000695-2?pId=279533 : accessed 28 Feb 2026). Notes: George is listed in the index under George Whealer with three pages (2, 4, 37) referenced. It is possible that he is also listed under name variants such as Whalley, Whaley, Waller, Willer, and so on, but that requires more in-depth research, if it’s possible to ascertain at all. In the index, Simon Addy and John Wheeler are only referenced on page 37.
Crawford, Alan Pell, This Fierce People: The Untold Story of America’s Revolutionary War in the South (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2024) pp. 283-285.
Findagrave.com, Virtual Cemetery, digital images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11634656/george-wheeler : accessed 25 Feb 2026), photograph, gravestone for George Wheeler (1762-1835), memorial id 11634656, St. Peter Lutheran Church Cemetery, Chapin, Lexington Co., SC.
Krawczynski, Keith, “Loyalists, 1770s – 1780s”, web page, South Carolina Encyclopedia (https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/loyalists/ : accessed 23 March 2026).
O’Neill, John Belton, and John A. Chapman, The Annals of Newberry, In Two Parts (Aull & Houseal, Newberry, SC, 1892), p. 638.