He was in the Union army during the Civil War, serving as a part of the 4th Iowa Cavalry, and eventually mustered out with the rank of corporal. Departing the army in 1865 he went to Missouri to farm on the land of his father near Lamar, then lost an election for constable five years later at Lamar. In 1871 he moved to Kansas, near the town of Stearling, Rice County where he was a farmer and pioneer settler, and thence to Garden City, in which town he rose quickly, becoming marshal for some time. He was said to have hunted buffalo in 1873 near Peace, Kansas. He had also migrated to Wyoming and Nevada, probably settling in the towns of Casper and Paradise before moving to California. Newton was a Mason and died in 1928.