From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (PIONEERS & PATRIOTS: Anderson County Military Servicemen, Revolutionary War - WWI)

Bond was born a slave in Anderson County about 1829. President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states openly hostile toward the Union, so he remained a slave into adulthood. Since Kentucky refrained from secession, the slaves within its borders  remained in bondage. Late in the Civil War, however, the government called for the enlistment of colored regiments, and all who answered the call were granted immediate freedom. In great numbers, slaves threw down the tools of forced labor, and walked away from the fields to the nearest enlistment point.

Bond Smith made his way to Camp Nelson to enlist, and on July 26, 1864 was enrolled as a private in Company I, 12th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery.

The 12th regiment saw no reported action during the war, serving garrison duty at various points in central Kentucky until April 24, 1866, when Bond was  discharged and mustered from Federal service.