William Barton (1748–1831) was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War who retired with the rank of colonel.

He planned and led a raid on British headquarters in June and July 1777, capturing Major General Richard Prescott.

They slipped past three British frigates, landing about halfway between Newport and Bristol Ferry; they then went to the farm house where Prescott had his headquarters.

[2] Barton was gravely wounded in the thigh while trying to rally American militia to attack the rear guard of a British raiding party that burned parts of Bristol and Warren on May 25, 1778.

He never fully recovered from this injury, but did return in June 1779 to lead the "Corps of Light Infantry", which consisted of four companies of 54 men each and operated in boats patrolling Narragansett Bay.

[4] When Rhode Island ratified the United States Constitution in 1790, Barton was sent to New York to notify George Washington.

At the age of seventy-seven, he was released at the initiative of the visiting Marquis de Lafayette, who agreed to pay the balance of his debt.