Pollard joined Company I,
8th Vermont Infantry Regiment as a
first lieutenant at the start of the war. The regiment served in initially in the
Department of the Gulf, and later in the
Civil War Defenses of Washington, and the Virginia
Valley campaigns of 1864. Pollard remained in the service until the end of the war, and was discharged as a
major in July 1865. After leaving the army, Pollard completed his legal training with a six-month term at
Albany Law School. He then moved to
Chillicothe, Missouri, where he began to practice law in partnership with
Joel Funk Asper. After Asper was elected to Congress, Pollard practiced in partnership with Judge Elbridge J. Broaddus. A
Republican, Pollard was appointed county attorney of
Livingston County in 1874. In 1876, he was elected Chillicothe's mayor, and he served until 1877. ==Later career==