John Minson Galt was born in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1744 to a middling social status. He worked as an apprentice at the College of William and Mary and later at St. Thomas Hospital in London. Galt had a wife named Judith Craig and six children. He had relationships with Alexander Craig, Catherine Blaikley, Thomas Everard, and Benjamin Powell but owned no slaves. Galt was a patriot who believed American troops would fight harder on home ground to defend their homes and families.