David Barnes was born September 29, 1843, in Princess Anne County, Virginia, the second child and oldest surviving son of John J. Barnes and Catherine Bonney. At the age of nineteen he enlisted for the war on March 1, 1860, at Tanners Creek (Lafayette River) Crossroads as part of Company G (Atlantic Guard), 16th Virginia Infantry commanded by Capt. William E. Williams and Capt. (later Major) John T. Woodhouse.

Cited for Confederate Roll of Honor for the capture of Union flag at the Battle of the Crater.

David Barnes returned to being a farmer in Princess Anne County after the war. On February 28, 1870, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Sarah Virginia “Jennie” Widgeon and eventually raised a family of six sons and two daughters, one of whom was my great grandmother. He died on Mar 2, 1921, at the age of seventy-seven, and was buried at London Bridge Baptist Church. His and his wife’s grave was moved in 1966 to Forest Lawn Cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia.