He became an army surgeon during the American Civil War and president of the Maine Medical Association.

[2] He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1851, after which he moved to Yarmouth, Maine, where he worked for several years alongside his father.

[2] After serving "with distinction" as an army surgeon during the Civil War, he became a member of the W. L. Haskell Post, number 108, G. A. R.[2] Bates became president of the Maine Medical Association, as well as a trustee of the State Reform School.

He is interred in Yarmouth's Riverside Cemetery, alongside his wife, who survived him by two years.

[1] He was an active member of the Central Unitarian Society, and was also its treasurer.