Norton, Charles B. 1825-1891

Charles Benjamin Norton (July 1, 1825 – 1891) was an American archivist, early American historian and publisher of books, a dealer in rare books and one of the few individuals in his day that made arduous efforts to preserve early American history in the form of published manuscripts, books, diaries, letters, etc. He founded Norton's Literary Letter, a numismatic journal, in 1857. Norton also served as a Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff of General Fitz John Porter during the American Civil War. After the war, he kept abreast of the post-war American inventions and developments of ordnance and munitions and authored and edited several books outlining this advent.