Representative John Barney

John Barney (January 18, 1785 – January 26, 1857) was a United States Representative from the fifth district of Maryland, serving in Congress from 1825 to 1829. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was a son of Commodore Joshua Barney, a distinguished naval officer who served with notable gallantry in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Growing up in a family closely associated with the early military and maritime history of the United States, John Barney was exposed from an early age to public affairs and national service, influences that would shape his later military and political career.

Details of Barney’s formal education are not extensively documented, but his subsequent military commission and congressional service indicate that he received sufficient training and instruction to prepare him for responsibilities in both the Army and the national legislature. Raised in Baltimore, a major port and commercial center, he would have been familiar with the city’s mercantile and maritime environment, as well as with the political issues affecting Maryland and the young republic in the early nineteenth century.

During the War of 1812, Barney entered military service in the United States Army. On August 15, 1814, he was appointed a captain and assistant district quartermaster general. In this capacity he was responsible for aspects of supply, logistics, and support for Army operations at a time when the Chesapeake region, including Maryland, was a principal theater of British attack. He served in this post until June 15, 1815, when he was honorably discharged following the conclusion of hostilities and the postwar reduction of the armed forces.

After leaving the Army, Barney turned to politics in Maryland. He first sought election to the national legislature as a candidate for the Eighteenth Congress in 1822 but was unsuccessful. Undeterred, he continued his political efforts and was subsequently elected as a representative from Maryland’s fifth district to the Nineteenth Congress. He took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 4, 1825. He was re-elected to the Twentieth Congress and served continuously from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1829. His service in Congress occurred during a period of significant national political realignment, as the Era of Good Feelings gave way to the rise of new party structures and increasing sectional and partisan tensions, though specific details of his committee assignments and legislative initiatives are not extensively recorded in surviving summaries.

Barney sought to continue his congressional career but was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1828 to the Twenty-first Congress. Following his departure from the House of Representatives in March 1829, he did not return to public office. Instead, he devoted himself to literary pursuits, an indication that he remained engaged intellectually and culturally even after leaving elective service. These pursuits, though not fully detailed in available records, suggest an ongoing interest in letters, public questions, or historical and political reflection during his later years.

John Barney spent his final years in Washington, D.C., where he remained in proximity to the national political scene that had shaped much of his adult life. He died there on January 26, 1857. His body was returned to his native Maryland, and he was interred in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, a resting place for many of the city’s prominent figures. His life reflected the trajectory of a member of a notable early American family who combined military service, participation in the nation’s political institutions, and later literary activity during a formative period in United States history.