George Burton . . .

. . . who became lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth Iowa, was born in the City of Dublin. His father was an Englishman and a wealthy manufacturer of Dublin. The son served as a sailor for several years and then came to the United States and finally settled at Bloomington, Illinois. He enlisted in the regular army and participated in the Mexican war. At the close of hostilities he came to Decatur County and entered what was later known as the Soper Farm in Eden Township. At the beginning of the Civil war Burton entered the service as captain of Company D, Fourth Iowa Infantry. About a month after the Battle of Pea Ridge, Burton was made lieutenant-colonel and at the Battle of Arkansas Post on January 10 and 11, 1863, he led his regiment. At the close of the war Burton located in Leon, where he resided for a number of years, and then took up his residence in Kansas. He died several years ago in Wellington, Kan.

SOURCE: Prof. J. M. Howell & Heman C. Smith, Editors, A History of Decatur County, Iowa and Its People, Vol. 1, p. 58-9