 In 1891 he was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison to serve on a commission with General Alexander McDowell McCook, U.S. Army, to treat with the Navajo Indians.In 1893 at the request of Governor Levi K. Fuller he was a member of the executive committee of a national antitrust conference.Barstow was a member of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.