Letters from Warrenton, "Stoney Mt.," Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Hatcher̕s Run, and Burkeville, Virginia, and Washington, DC, to his mother, Emily F. Pollard, and his brother. Pollard was a substitute. He enlisted on 23 July 1863 and was mustered into the 14th Connecticut Infantry on 25 July 1863. He was captured at Reams̕' Station, VA, on 25 August 1864 and was paroled on 8 October 1864. He transferred to the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery on 30 May 1865 and was mustered-out on 18 August 1865. His letters reveal a strong reliance on his religious faith to see him through the war. On 1 November 1863, Pollard wrote, "I carried the painkiller till partly used up & sold the rest.... I was tied up to the tree by arm hands behind me 5 minutes at that time for going to the sutlers & missed being on dress parade.... Had scouse for breakfast hard tac soaked in water & fried in pork fat." He notes, on 19-20 January 1864, that the 14th "is a hard regiment pretty rough men in it." According to his letter of 1 February 1864, he wanted to learn to play the fife. In writing about an engagement at Deep Bottom, Virginia (15-16 August 1864), on 18 August, Private Pollard noted that he "came near getting hurted in the head by a small piece of lead." In a philosophical frame of mind on 1 February 1865, he wrote, "Grown persons cannot do as they would like always," and on 22 February 1865, "I want to see the end of this war with a whole hide..." His chances of accomplishing this must have been reduced by officers described thus: "Our Div. commander Alek Meags never goes into battle unless he is nearly dead drunk..." Finally, his letter of 29 April 1865 contains a tribute to Brigadier General Thomas A. Smyth (3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps).
