Born in East Westmoreland, New Hampshire, when he was three years old, his widowed mother moved with him to Fitchburg.

[1] In 1845 Bailey began to study law, first with William C. Bradley in Westminster, Vermont, and later with the firm of Torrey and Wood in Fitchburg.

Bailey was the Republican Party candidate for congress in Massachusetts' ninth congressional district in the 1860 election.

[1] Bailey was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1861, until his death in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, May 8, 1862.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress