Ben Carlton (d. 1917) was a soldier in the United States Army during the Great War. He was an infantry private assigned to General George Armstrong Custer's First Army, serving alongside Paul Mantarakis and Gordon McSweeney. Unlike his comrades, he remained a private throughout the war, serving in Kentucky, Utah, Baja California, and Arkansas. He was something of a rogue prior to his entry to the military. During the offensive in Arkansas, Carlton fell victim to bombardment by a Confederate monitor, and shrapnel ripped open his belly. In an act of mercy, Gordon McSweeney slit Carlton's throat.