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, Rhode Island, on May 25, 1778. He never fully recovered from this injury, but did return in June 1779 to lead a battalion of light infantry, called the "Corps of Light Infantry", which consisted of four companies of 54 men each and operated in boats patrolling Narragansett Bay. Barton served in this capacity until the end of the war.