George Galphin (ca. 1700–1780) was an Irish-born Indian trader, planter, and colonial official whose career shaped political and economic life along the eighteenth-century Georgia–South Carolina frontier. Arriving in South Carolina in 1737, Galphin established himself in the deerskin trade and developed influential relationships with Creek leaders, serving as a diplomatic intermediary between Native nations and British colonial authorities. His role in treaty negotiations and frontier commerce made him a prominent figure in regional affairs during the decades preceding the American Revolution.

Through trade, land acquisition, and plantation agriculture, Galphin accumulated extensive property along the Savannah River, including his Silver Bluff plantation near the present-day Georgia–South Carolina border. His agricultural operations were sustained by enslaved labor; at the time of his death in 1780, estate inventories recorded more than 128 enslaved individuals. Silver Bluff functioned as both a commercial center and a plantation estate within Galphin’s broader trading network.

During the early 1770s, enslaved people at Silver Bluff began gathering for Christian worship. Under the leadership of David George, who was enslaved by Galphin, these meetings developed into Silver Bluff Baptist Church, often cited as one of the earliest organized Black Baptist congregations in North America. The congregation was associated with itinerant Baptist ministers and with the preaching of George Liele. During the Revolutionary War, members of the congregation dispersed, with some later connected to the founding of Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia.

Galphin’s historical significance lies primarily in his role as a frontier trader and diplomatic broker, as well as in the plantation context—shaped by slavery—in which early African American Baptist institutions emerged.