George Elliott, born in Eutaw, Alabama, was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1868 and was honorably discharged in June 1870 upon the completion of a two-year course there. In October 1870, he was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps by the President of the United States. Second Lieutenant Elliott served at the Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., from the time of his appointment to the Marine Corps until 1871, when he was transferred to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He later served on the Vermont, the Frolic, and the Monongahela, and was on duty at the Marine Barracks at Norfolk, Virginia, in 1877 when a battalion of Marines was ordered to that post from Washington, D.C. during the strike of railway employees. He was in command of the detachment that guarded the B