He served as clerk of the North Carolina Supreme Court, having been elected January 18, 1869, and holding that position until his death, a little more than 17 years thereafter.
In 1855, he removed to Elizabeth City, in the adjacent county of Pasquotank, and there engaged in journalistic work as editor of the Sentinel.
Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, Bagley entered the Confederate service, and was commissioned First Lieutenant of Company A, Eighth North Carolina Regiment, on May 16, 1861.
Shortly after the Eighth Regiment reassembled, Bagley was promoted to the rank of captain, October 25, 1862, and assigned to his former company.
He probably did not rejoin his company immediately, as about this time he had been elected state senator from the First Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Pasquotank and Perquimans.
In July, 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed Bagley to the post of superintendent of the United States Mint at Charlotte, but the recipient of this appointment could not qualify as he was unable to take the "iron-clad oath" alleging that he had borne no part in what was then officially designated "the late Rebellion."
One of the children born to this marriage was Ensign Worth Bagley, killed in the War with Spain, and in whose honor a statue now stands in the Capitol Square at Raleigh.