Essential Facts
- Born: May 26, 1749 in Warren, Rhode Island..
- Parents: Benjamin Barton and Lydia Barton.
- Spouse: Rhoda Carver (1771).
- Died: October 22, 1831, at the age of 83.
- Buried: North Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island.
Key Details
- In July 1776, Barton led a raid in Newport, Rhode Island.
- The raid resulted in the capture of General Richard Prescott, who was in command of British forces in Rhode Island.
- The Americans later exchanged Prescott for General Charles Lee, who had been captured at Basking Ridge, New Jersey (December 13, 1776) by a contingent of British dragoons led by Banestre Tarleton.
History
Early Life
- William Barton was born on May 26, 1748, in Warren, Rhode Island.
- He worked as a hatter before volunteering to join the Rhode Island Militia.
American Revolutionary War
- On August 3, 1775, William Barton joined the staff of William Richmond, who commanded a regiment in the militia. Barton was promoted to the rank of Captain on November 1, 1775.
- Barton participated in the Siege of Boston (1775–1776).
- On August 19, 1776, he was promoted to the rank of Major in a brigade of Rhode Island troops.
- He joined Joseph Stanton’s Rhode Island State troops on December 12, 1776, with the rank of Major.
Capture of Richard Prescott, the “Barefoot General”
Barton planned to capture British General Richard Prescott to exchange him for Charles Lee. Barton knew Prescott spent his evenings in a house about five miles from Newport, where he was protected by eight guards.
- Barton and approximately 40 men gathered in Tiverton on July 4. Using whaleboats, they rowed to Bristol and then to Warwick Neck.
- They covered their oars to muffle them and crossed Narragansett Bay on the night of July 9.
- They landed on the western shore of Acquidneck Island, near Prescott’s house, and moved inland.
- They quietly seized Prescott’s guards and captured the General and his aide, Major William Barrington.
- Prescott was dressed in his bedclothes and was barefoot. Because of this, the incident is also referred to as the “Capture of the Barefoot General.”
- Barton returned to the shore with his prisoners and successfully transported them back to Warwick Neck.
- Prescott was sent to General George Washington’s headquarters and was later exchanged for General Charles Lee.
AHC Note — This was the second time Prescott was captured by American forces. He was captured once before during the Invasion of Quebec and later exchanged for General John Sullivan.
Ongoing Service in the War
Congress commended Barton on July 25, 1777, and gave him a sword, which he received in August 1778. He was also given a house in Newport that had once belonged to a Loyalist.
- He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on November 10, 1777.
- Afterward, became a Colonel in Stanton’s Regiment on December 24, 1777.
- He spent time on the staff of General Nathanael Greene.
- In 1778, he was wounded while pursuing retreating British forces in Warren, Rhode Island.
- A year later, in 1779, the Rhode Island Assembly gave him command of troops in the state militia.
- He remained on active duty for the remainder of the war but did not see action in the field.
Support for the United States Constitution
- Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Philadelphia Convention (1787).
- Barton and others sent a letter in support of revising the Articles of Confederation.
- In 1790, he participated in the Rhode Island Ratifying Convention that approved the United States Constitution.
Later Years and Death
- Barton refused to pay a judgment on a property in Vermont, leading to his imprisonment for 14 years at an inn in Danville, Vermont.
- The Marquis de Lafayette learned of Barton’s situation during a visit in 1824–1825.
- Lafayette personally paid Barton’s claim, allowing him to return to Rhode Island.
- Barton died in Providence on October 22, 1831.
Biography
AHC Note — This biography of William Barton is from the Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. I, edited by Allen Johnson and published by the American Council of Learned Societies in 1945. Minor text corrections have been made.
BARTON, WILLIAM (May 26, 1748–Oct. 22, 1831), Revolutionary soldier, the son of Benjamin and Lydia Barton, was born at Warren, Rhode Island. When twenty-two years of age, he married Rhoda Carver, daughter of Joseph Carver of Bridgewater, Mass. Barton was a hatter by trade.
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, he enlisted, was soon a captain, and on Aug. 19, 1776, became Major of Rhode Island troops.
The circumstances under which he sprang into national fame were these: the English commander, Brigadier General Richard Prescott, occupied the island of Rhode Island in December 1776. He held arbitrary rule at Newport, quartered his force largely in farmhouses, laid waste the neighborhood, and exacted contributions. Personally, he was ill-tempered, insolent, and contemptuous of Americans. In a previous campaign, he had ill-treated Ethan Allen, had been taken prisoner and exchanged for General John Sullivan.
AHC Notes
- British forces led by General Henry Clinton seized control of Newport in December 1776.
- The “previous campaign” refers to the Invasion of Quebec (Canada Campaign).
It occurred to Barton that the recapture of Prescott would serve to procure the release of General Charles Lee, something which seemed very desirable since Barton shared the prevailing delusion of Lee’s loyalty and military importance.
- AHC Note — During the early years of the war, Lee was held in high regard by Americans and was second-in-command to General George Washington. In the years following the war, it was revealed that Lee had given information to British officials during his captivity. This is known as the “Treachery of Charles Lee.”
Admitting few into his confidence, Barton planned his route and the details of the capture. The men, 41 in all, were carefully selected, though the entire regiment had volunteered. The force started in boats from Tiverton on the night of July 4, touched at Bristol, and proceeded thence to Warwick Neck on the mainland. From there, with muffled oars, they crossed Narragansett Bay, skirting Prudence Island, and on the night of July 9 landed on the western shore of Rhode Island itself.
The house that Prescott occupied with a small body of troops was a mile inland. Barton’s party silenced the sentinel, broke into the house, and captured the English General. He was conducted safely to Warwick, sent to the state authorities in Providence, treated apparently with courtesy, and in due time exchanged. He was soon promoted to the rank of Major General but did not escape lampooning and criticisms in the English press due to the humiliating features of his capture.
Barton returned to Tiverton and was promoted on November 10, 1777, to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His achievement, regarded as a most gallant act, had greatly helped morale in a time of need. He received a vote of thanks from the Rhode Island General Assembly and, from the Second Continental Congress, a resolution of thanks and the gift of a sword.
He served through the war and was wounded in the British retreat from Warren in 1778.
In 1787, when his state declined to send delegates to the Philadelphia Convention, Barton joined with others in a letter to the convention, pledging support (I.B. Richman, Rhode Island, 1905). Naturally, therefore, he was a member of the state convention in 1790, which adopted the United States Constitution.
In later life, he was unfortunate. Having bought (or obtained by a grant from Congress) a tract of land in Vermont, he refused to pay a judgment upon it. He was detained as a prisoner for 14 years, kept in a kind of honorable captivity in the inn at Danville, Vermont.
On the occasion of the Marquis de Lafayette’s famous semi-centennial visit to America in 1824–1825, he learned of Barton’s plight and paid the claim, thus setting Barton free. The old soldier returned to Rhode Island and died in Providence.
- Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) — In the latter part of 1784, Lafayette accepted an invitation from George Washington and returned to America. During this visit, he spoke before the Virginia House of Delegates, where he spoke of “liberty for all mankind” and the emancipation of slaves. He also traveled to New York, where he participated in peace talks with the Iroquois Confederacy. Before he returned to France, he was granted citizenship in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
