George was born on the 13th of October 1839, in Lake County, Ohio, and he was 21 years old when he enlisted in the 15th Indiana Infantry Regiment in June of 1861. It was his actions as a Sergeant on the 25th of November 1863, during the Battle of Missionary Ridge, that would later earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

As color bearer, led his regiment in the assault, and, though wounded, carried the flag forward to the enemy's works, where he was again wounded. In a brigade of eight regiments this flag was the first planted on the parapet.

George married Olive Chandler in 1864 and the couple had three children. He received the Medal of Honor on the 28th of September 1897, and after his wife died in 1902, he remarried to Helen Clarkson. George Lovell Banks died on the 20th of August 1924, at the age of 84, in his home in Independence, Kansas. He is buried with his first wife in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Independence, Kansas: Section F 158-1.