James S. Bond was born around 1815 in Massachusetts. He married a woman named Susan, and he had at least three children: Charles, born around 1846; George, born around 1847; and Addison, born around 1850. They lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Bond worked as a shoemaker and policeman.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on November 18, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company C of the 32^nd Massachusetts Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with dark hair and black eyes. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Antietam, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. Army officials detailed him to the Ambulance Corps on August 12, 1862.

 

He fell ill in January 1863, and he spent the next few months in the hospital. According to one official, he suffered from “Chronic nephritis and oedema of the lower extremities” caused by “exposure previous to and after the battle of Antietam.” He was discharged for disability on May 29, 1863.

 

He returned to Haverhill after leaving the army. He applied for a federal pension in June 1863 and eventually secured one. He suffered greatly, however, while awaiting his pension. As he explained in October 1864, he “made out to get along untill buissness came so dull I have none nothing to do & see nothing but the poor house staring me in the face…I do not want to go to the Poor House.” He blamed the Republican Party for his plight, insisting that “it has always been said that Republicans were ungratefull & I for one begin to feel the full force of it.” He hoped the election of 1864 would bring “a change for the better.”

 

His wife died in April 1864, and he married Mary H. Lew on January 12, 1867. He moved to Derry, New Hampshire, in the late 1860s, and by 1870, he owned $150 of real estate. By 1880, he was suffering from rheumatism. He died sometime after 1890.

SOURCES