William Barton, an American soldier, born in Providence, R. I., about 1747, died there, Oct. 22, 1831. He was a lieutenant colonel in the state militia when, on the night of July 20, 1777, he crossed Narragansett bay with a small body of men, passed unnoticed three British frigates, landed between Newport and Bristol ferry, reached the house where the English general Prescott was sleeping, and with the assistance of a negro, who broke in a panel of the door with his head, made his way into the room and took him prisoner. For this exploit he received from congress the gift of a sword, a commission as colonel, and a tract of land in Vermont. He retired from active service in August, 1778, after having been wounded at Bristol ferry, and was a member of the convention which adopted the constitution. By some illegality in the transfer of a portion of his Vermont land Barton was involved in difficulties, and for several years imprisoned for debt in Vermont till 1825, when Lafayette paid the claim against him.

Mrs. 0. M. Williams included a life of Barton in her "Biography of Eevolutionary Heroes" (Providence, 1839).