Civil War Union Army Brevet Brigadier General. A prominent Burlington, New Jersey coal merchant prior to the Civil War, he was commissioned Captain and commander of Company F, 6th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry on September 9, 1861. He was promoted to Major of the regiment in March 1862 when John P. Van Leer was advanced to Lieutenant Colonel. He participated in the May 1862 Battle of Williamsburg, where the 6th New Jersey took heavy casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Van Leer was killed in the battle, and George Burling was promoted to that rank on May 7, 1862 to replace him. He served as second-in-command of the regiment through the Peninsular Campaign, the Seven Days Battles and the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. In September 1862 the 6th New Jersey's Colonel, Gershom Mott, was advanced to Brigadier General, US Volunteers, and George Burling was promoted to full Colonel and commander. He led the 6th New Jersey in the subsequent Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, where he was wounded. When he returned to duty during the Gettysburg Campaign, he was placed in command of his brigade, being the senior most officer by virtue of General Mott being wounded and incapacitated at Chancellorsville as well. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg his Brigade was first posted in Trostle's Woods in reserve after Major General Daniel Sickles had made his unauthorized move of the III Corps from Cemetery Ridge to Emmitsburg Road. In the subsequent Confederate attack on the untenable III Corps position late in the day, Colonel Burling had his 6 regiments detached from his brigade at different times, each going to bolster threatened areas (the 6th and 7th New Jersey and the 2nd New Hampshire Infantries went to Emmitsburg Road, the 8th New Jersey and 115th Pennsylvania went to the Wheatfield and the 6th New Jersey went to the Devil's Den area). As the Battle raged his units were spread out along the III Corps line, and he found himself without an effective command. He spent the rest of the day with Division commander major General Andrew A. Humphreys, then gathered up his units after the Confederate advance was finally stopped near Cemetery Ridge. During the cannonade and attack by Pickett's Division the next day, his brigade supported Federal Artillery batteries. He returned to command the 6th New Jersey in late August when General Mott returned, and led the unit through the Mine Run Campaign. In March 1864 he resigned his commission, feeling slighted by the perceived lack of recognition for his efforts in the Gettysburg Campaign. However, on March 13, 1865, fully one year after he had left the service, he was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers "for gallant and meritorious services in the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa.". After the War he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad until his death in Philadelphia in 1885. Today in the Gettysburg National Military Park a plaque for his Brigade (3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, III Corps) stands in the Wheatfield near the Rose Woods, and a monument to his regiment, the 6th New Jersey, stands in Plum Run Valley.