[1][2] After graduation, Dunton studied law with the firm of Dillingham and Durant of Waterbury, and then with Linsley and Prout of Rutland.

[2] In 1862, Dunton enlisted for the American Civil War, was commissioned as a captain in the Union Army, and was appointed commander of Company F, 14th Vermont Infantry.

[3] After leaving the Army, Dunton practiced law in Rutland as the partner of John Prout and Wheelock G.

[2] He served as president of the Vermont Bar Association from 1880 to 1881, and from 1888 to 1889 he was a law professor at Iowa State University.

[2] They were the parents of one son and four daughters: Agnes Ellen; Edith Kellogg; Walter Barrett; Miriam Buttrick; and Mary.