Private Hampton Barton was born in Warren, Rhode Island in 1747, [1] the year the Town was founded. He grew up enslaved on the farm of Benjamin Barton and was known only by his first name. The first Town record that mentions him is the 1774 “Inventory of Sundry Farming Implements & Stock”, a separate document from the Personal Inventory of the estate of Benjamin Barton submitted shortly after his death in 1773. Hampton was listed by name in this inventory [2] (valued at 51 pounds) along with a woman name
On April 29, 1777, at the age of 30, Hampton was enlisted [4] in the Continental Army; his owner likely received 42 pounds in bounty [5] . When he passed muster, Hampton became a free man and soldier: Private Hampton Barton. [6] During the summer of 1777, as a private in the 1 st Rhode Island Regiment (private was the only rank allowed for a Black soldier and he could never be promoted regardless of seniority), Barton would have been inoculated against smallpox [7] and given basic training. In th
In June of 1778, as the Rhode Island military formally recruited Black and Indian men, the two regiments at Valley Forge went from integrated to segregated, with all white soldiers moved into the 2 nd Regiment, all Black and Native American soldiers to the 1 st . Pvt. Barton’s Company moved north, fought under Washington at the Battle of Monmouth and shortly thereafter encamped to East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Along with guarding a section of Narragansett Bay, the soldiers spent time making fascin