In November 1861, Pond was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. At the Battle of Baxter Springs, he fought against the notorious Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill and his Raiders. For his heroism in that action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor on March 30, 1898. By the time he mustered out in September 1865, he had been promoted to the rank of major.
Medal of Honor citation
Post-war career
After the war, he tried his hand at various business enterprises in the western United States. In Salt Lake City, he was asked to manage a national lecture tour for Ann Eliza Young, the 52nd wife of Brigham Young, who had become disillusioned with her husband. She eventually divorced Young and spoke out against him, the LDS Church, and polygamy. In 1874, Pond purchased the Lyceum Theatre Lecture Bureau and embarked on a career managing speakers. In 1879, he moved his main office to New York City. In addition to Mark Twain's 1884-85 tour, Pond managed the North American stage of the worldwide lecture tour the author undertook in 1895-96 to pay off his enormous debts. He also promoted Winston Churchill's first American tour, though the two had a falling out and Churchill referred to Pond as "a vulgar Yankee impresario." Explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley earned $60,000 for an 1890-91 U.S. tour set up by Pond. Other clients included P. T. Barnum, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ellen Terry, and Henry Ward Beecher. Pond wrote a book entitled Eccentricities of Genius, in which he reminisced about his experiences with his famous clients.
Personal life
Pond's first wife, the former Ann Frances Lynch, died in 1871. He married Martha Glass of Jersey City in 1880. Three of his brothers, George, Homer, and Philip, also fought for the Union in the Civil War. George F. Pond was awarded the Medal of Honor as well, for a later action. Pond died due primarily to an ulcer on his right foot that turned gangrenous. All seemed well after a successful amputation below the knee, but Pond took a turn for the worse and died of heart failure on June 21, 1903. He was survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York. His grave can be found in section 70, lawn plot, lot 6393 NW 1/4. After his death, his son James B. Pond Jr. took over the business.
