Background
He was born on September 8, 1829, at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
He was born on September 8, 1829, at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Although he was less than sixteen years old when he was admitted as a cadet at West Point, he was more mature mentally than most of his classmates. As often happens, however, his superiority in this respect did not manifest itself in high scholastic standing. As a classmate (Gen. Holabird) tactfully phrases it, "he was fond of reading and gave more attention to the pursuit of general knowledge than to the specific requirements of the course"; and he graduated, in 1849, somewhat below the middle of the class.
He was commissioned in the infantry and first assigned to duty at Governors Island, New York Harbor, but went to New Mexico the next year and was at frontier stations during the remainder of his service in the army. In 1853 he was promoted to first liutenant, and in 1857 to captain. He was in action against hostile Comanches in 1857. On June 11, 1861, he resigned his commission, and went from Fort Leavenworth, to offer his services to his native state. He was appointed a captain of infantry in the regular army of the Confederate States, but in July 1861 was made lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Arkansas, and joined his regiment.
For the next few months he served in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. He was present at the engagements at Cheat Mountain and the Greenbrier River. In the absence of an engineer officer, he designed the defensive works on the Greenbrier, and acted as Jackson's chief engineer in the valley district through the winter. His nomination as brigadier-general was sent to the Confederate Senate in January 1862, withdrawn a few days later, and renewed in March. His brigade was a part of Kirby Smith's command in East Tennessee until December, when he joined the forces at Vicksburg. He took part in the fighting at Chickasaw Bayou, Chickasaw Bluffs, and Champion's Hill, and in the siege of Vicksburg. He was paroled with the other prisoners taken when the city was surrendered, July 4, 1863, and was exchanged a few days later.
Assigned to Pickett's division, to command the brigade which had been Armistead's until his death at Gettysburg, Barton joined it in North Carolina, where the division was recruiting and reorganizing. In its operations against Newbern, in January 1864, Pickett alleged want of cooperation on Barton's part. His handling of his brigade was again severely criticized, during the operations south of Richmond in May, and he was summarily relieved from command by his immediate superior, Gen. Ransom.
In spite of his earnest request for a court of inquiry, and strong expressions of confidence presented by his regimental commanders in writing, he remained unemployed until the autumn of 1864, when he was assigned to a brigade in the defenses of Richmond. In January 1865 his brigade became a part of G. W. C. Lee's division, with which he served until captured at Sailor's Creek (April 6). A few days later, while confined at Fort Warren, he joined with other eminent prisoners there in indorsement of Gen. Ewell's letter to Gen. Grant, expressing their "feelings of unqualified abhorrence and indignation" at the assassination of President Lincoln.
After the war, Barton returned to Fredericksburg, where he began practicing chemistry, eventually becoming one of the most prominent chemists in the United States.
He died at Washington.
Father
Thomas Bowerbank Barton