Bell became ill while visiting New York City, and died at Grand Central Station while on board a train preparing to return to Vermont.

[1] At 17, Bell enlisted for the Civil War as a member of the Union Army's Company B, 15th Vermont Infantry Regiment.

[3] He easily won the general election, and he served two years, in keeping with the Vermont Republican Party's "Mountain Rule.

[5] Bell led a delegation to the Quincy, Massachusetts shipyard for the christening ceremony, and his daughter Jennie performed the traditional task of breaking a bottle of champagne on the ship's bow.

[5] During his administration Bell was involved in a controversy that gained national attention when he was besieged by pleas to commute the sentence of Mary Rogers, who had been convicted of murdering her husband.

[6] Bell granted a reprieve so her appeals could be heard, and personally reconsidered her case, but ultimately decided to allow the original sentence to be carried out.

[8] He decided to return home early, and died from a heart attack on September 25, while on a train at Grand Central Station.