Thomas was born in 1831 in Cleveland, Ohio, and like many recipients of this time, there is not much information known about his life. It is known that he spent nineteen years in the Navy, enlisting in 1861, and it was his actions during the Action at Crumpler’s Bluff, also known as the Battle of Crumpler’s Bluff, that would later earn him the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

On board the U.S.S. Hunchback in the attack on Franklin, Va., 3 October 1862. When an ignited shell, with cartridge attached, fell out of the howitzer upon the deck, Seaman Barton promptly seized a pail of water and threw it upon the missile, thereby preventing it from exploding.

Thomas was serving on the USS Wyoming in 1882 when he requested a replacement Medal of Honor shortly before his discharge in August of the same year. This is where the information about Thomas Barton seems to end and he is one of the 312 recipients to be lost to history.