[3] Bardeen left school at the age of fourteen to enlist in the Northern Army in the American Civil War, where he signed up as a drummer boy with the 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

[2][3] After the Civil War, he graduated from the Lawrence Academy in Groton in 1865 and from Yale University in 1869.

He became managing editor of the School Bulletin in 1874 and retained that position for almost fifty years.

The magazine became a forum for expressing his strong views on the importance of quality education.

[2][3] In the 1880s and 1890s, Bardeen made a number of trips to Europe and northern Africa, and he wrote up his travel adventures for the Bulletin.

[3] In later years, Bardeen frequently exchanged letters with his son Charles, in which they discussed issues about education, work, and life in general.