Robert Thomas Barton

Robert Barton

Edward Alexander Moore

Quick Facts

Significance:

Confederate army veteran

Place of Birth:

Winchester, Virginia

Date of Birth:

November 24, 1842

Place of Death:

Winchester, Virginia

Date of Death:

January 17, 1917

Place of Burial:

Winchester, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Mount Hebron Cemetery

Robert Thomas Barton was the son of a wealthy Winchester family. They relied on enslaved labor to maintain two homes along the Valley Turnpike. He served the Confederacy by buying saltpeter mined in Shenandoah Valley caves.  

Barton and his four brothers enlisted in the Confederate Army. Robert started in the “Stonewall Brigade” before joining the Rockbridge Artillery. Barton left the combat units because of illness. He became an agent of the Nitre and Mining Bureau to buy saltpeter, an ingredient in gunpowder. 

After the war he was an important Virginia lawyer. He wrote law textbooks, "Barton’s Law Practice" and "Barton’s Chancery Practice." Barton served in the Virginia House of Delegates and as mayor of Winchester.

Barton married twice, first to Katie Knight in 1868. He married Gertrude W. Baker in 1890. He had two children with Gertrude. Barton is buried in Winchester’s historic Mount Hebron Cemetery.