Rolinto V. Barrows was born on July 2, 1843, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, to Fayette and Sarah Barrows. His father was a farmer who owned $1,500 of real estate in 1860. The family lived in Providence, Rhode Island, until the 1850s, when they moved to Johnston, Rhode Island. He enlisted in the Union army on February 4, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company E of the 1^st Rhode Island Cavalry later that day. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Chancellorsville. He was eventually promoted to corporal and then to sergeant. Confederate forces captured him near Sulphur Springs, Virginia, on October 12, 1863, and he spent the following months imprisoned at Belle Island in Richmond, Virginia. He died there on February 8, 1864.

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