After traveling around the U.S. South for several months, he lived for a time in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then in Sioux City, Iowa.

[1] During the American Civil War, Newbury served in the 6th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, rising to the rank of first lieutenant.

[1] After the war, Newbury was appointed Assistant Provost Marshal of the State of Kansas.

He served as the elected mayor of Iola, Kansas, but resigned in 1870 after deciding to move to the West Coast, where he settled in Portland, Oregon, in August of that year.

In May 1876, he was nominated to be a candidate for the Oregon Legislature "in his absence and without previous consultation with him",[3] The Morning Oregonian newspaper reported.