| Milton Barnes | |
| Order: | 21st |
| Office: | Ohio Secretary of State |
| Term Start: | January 8, 1877 |
| Term End: | January 10, 1881 |
| Governor: | Rutherford B. Hayes Thomas L. Young Richard M. Bishop Charles Foster |
| Preceded: | William Bell Jr. |
| Succeeded: | Charles Townsend |
| Party: | Republican |
| Birth Date: | 26 April 1830 |
| Birth Place: | Barnesville, Ohio, US |
| Death Place: | Westerville, Ohio, US |
| Restingplace: | Otterbein Cemetery, Westerville |
| Alma Mater: | Allegheny College |
| Allegiance: |  United States |
| Branch: | Union Army |
| Unit: | |
| Rank: | Lieutenant Colonel |
Milton Barnes (April 26, 1830 – June 2, 1895) was a Republican politician who was Ohio Secretary of State from 1877 to 1881.
Milton Barnes was born April 26, 1830, in Barnesville, Ohio. He attended country schools and at eighteen became a teacher, and at nineteen attended Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, but went home due to failing health.[1] He studied law and higher mathematics at an academy at Salem, Ohio, then at a law office in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1859. He moved to Cambridge, Ohio, and opened a law office.[1]
At the start of the American Civil War, Barnes raised a company and enlisted as captain in the Sixty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This unit participated in the first Federal invasion of the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862. In mid-1862, Milton returned home on sick leave, resigned his command, and re-enlisted in the Ninety-seventh Regiment as lieutenant colonel. He was twice wounded severely, and mustered out June, 1865.[1]
In 1867 and 1869 Barnes was elected prosecuting attorney of Guernsey County.[1] In 1876 the Republican Party nominated him for Ohio Secretary of State, and he defeated William Bell Jr. in the general election.[2] He won re-election with a plurality over David R. Paige and two others in 1878,[3] and did not run again.