George Lyman Barnes was born around 1837 in Waltham, Massachusetts, to Thomas and Adaline Barnes. His father was a farmer who owned $7,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Waltham, and by 1860, he was working as a clerk. He married Sarah C. Buttrick on August 28, 1860, and they apparently had no children.

 

He enlisted in the Union army, and he mustered in as a sergeant in Company B of the 32^nd Massachusetts Infantry on October 30, 1861. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 11 ½ inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Manassas and the Battle of Antietam. He was promoted to 2^nd lieutenant in July 1862, and he was discharged for disability on November 22, 1862.

 

He returned to Waltham after leaving the army, and he earned a living as a bookkeeper. He applied for a federal pension in November 1870, but he apparently never received one. He died of consumption in Waltham on June 11, 1873.

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