Bacon was born in Phillipstown, Illinois and attended the public schools there. He taught school at the Academy in Bolivar, Missouri in 1871. He studied law, was admitted to the bar on July 4, 1876, and commenced practice in Fairfield, Illinois. He was the city attorney of Fairfield and a delegate to several State conventions. He moved to Orlando, Florida, in 1882 and to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1886 and engaged in the abstract business. He moved to Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1895 and became associated with the Michigan Alkali Company through his marriage to Mary Ford, the grand-daughter of founder Jean Baptiste Ford (and the daughter of Edward Ford, founder of Edward Ford Plate Glass Company, now part of Libbey-Owens-Ford).

Bacon presented credentials as a Republican Member-elect from Michigan's 2nd District to the United States House of Representatives for the Sixty-fifth Congress. He served from March 4 until December 13, 1917, when he was succeeded by Democrat Samuel W. Beakes, who successfully contested his election. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1918, retiring to Wyandotte, Michigan. He died at his winter home in Pasadena, California and is interred San Gabriel Cemetery, San Gabriel, California.