[3] A graduate of the Worcester Academy, Samuel was hired by a community school in Milford to teach classes in 1843 when he was just sixteen years old.

Subsequently, granted admission to Brown University, he became proficient in a number of subjects, including mathematics and philosophy, before graduating from that institution in 1851.

[8] Elected as the superintendent of schools for Crawford County in 1857, he served a three-year term during which he became known and respected statewide for his views on public education.

Also residing with the family were James Wells and Darwin Finney, two teachers in the Crawford County schools, and Margaret Shisler, a 16-year-old domestic worker.

[15][16] In the opening paragraph of the Preface to the first volume in this series, he observed: So long as differences arise among nations, which cannot be settled by peaceful conference, and appeals are made to the arbitrament of the sword, the only safety that remains to a government is in the courage of its soldiery.

In the late sanguinary struggle, the national unity was preserved, and the perpetuity of democratic institutions secured, by the men who bore the musket, and who led in the deadly conflict.

[25] His summaries of the voluminous data contained in the Civil War-era muster rolls of Pennsylvania regiments and selected units from the United States Colored Troops (USCT) and transcription onto a series of 3 in × 5 in (76 mm × 127 mm) index cards were later digitized by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission archivists to create the "Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866" – an online resource which continues to be a popular, early-phase research tool used by professional genealogists and amateur family historians.

[26] Bates' work on the History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5 and its subsequent transcription and transfer to the Civil War Veterans' Card File was not error-free, however; multiple examples exist of incorrect spellings of soldiers' given names or surnames, as well as mis-affiliation with regiments.

As a result, archivists and other historians recommend that data found in the card file be double checked against other records, including the original muster rolls of the regiment in question.