R. Baxter Brown was born in Candia, New Hampshire. During the American Civil War on August 15, 1862, he enlisted in Company I of the 11th New Hampshire Infantry, which mustered into Federal service on September 2. Appointed a first sergeant, the 21-year-old Brown was wounded in the right breast and shoulder at the Battle of Fredericksburg. After convalescing at Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, Brown received a medical discharge from the service. He rejoined his regiment at Knoxville, however, and at the Battle of the Wilderness temporarily assumed command of Company I following the wounding of the company's captain. At the Battle of Spotsylvania, Brown was wounded in the left hand and was sent to St. John's Hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on July 25, 1864 and rejoined his regiment on September 11. At the Battle of Pegram Farm (September 30), he received a serious wound to his left thigh and a slight wound to his neck. He rejoined the regiment in mid-November and served until the regiment was mustered out of service on June 4, 1865. Following the war, Brown worked as a shoemaker. The 1870 census records 29-year-old Baxter Brown living in Haverhill, Massachusetts with 28-year-old Nancy Baxter, and a four-month-old baby, Bertha L. Baxter. In the 1880 census, Richard B. Baxter, a 39-year-old shoe contractor, is listed among the residents of Haverhill. Also in the household is 10-year-old daughter Bertha and a six-year-old son, Lutten. Baxter was still living in Haverhill as of 1891 and is reported among those attending regimental reunions as late as 1896.

External source: Cogswell, Leander W., A History of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment, Volunteer Infantry in the Rebellion War, 1861-1865 (Concord, N.H.: Republican Press Association, 1891).