Before the American Civil War Brastow was the Captain of Company I of the Somerville Light Infantry of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.[14] Brastow commanded[14] the company, for the three months at the beginning of the Civil War, that Company I was federalized and reconstituted as Company B of the 5th Regiment. Brastow and his regiment fought at the First Battle of Bull Run.[16]
In 1862 Brastow was commissioned a paymaster[5] with the rank of Major.[14]
^ abDrake, Samuel Adams (1880), History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, Vol. II, Boston, MA: Estes and Lauriat, p. 338
^Warner, Oliver (1875), Acts and Resolves passed by the General Court of Massachusetts in the Year 1875, Boston, MA: Secretary of the Commonwealth, p. 960
^Gifford, Stephen Nye (1876), A Manual for the use of the General Court, Boston, MA: Massachusetts General Court, p. 319
^Massachusetts Senate (1875), Journal of the Senate, Boston, MA: Printed by Order of the Senate, p. 12
^ abcdefghiHaley, M. A. (1903), The Story of Somerville, Boston, MA: The Writer Publishing Company, p. 86
^ abcdeGifford, Stephen Nye (1869), A Manual for the use of the General Court, Boston, MA: Massachusetts General Court, p. 132
^ abcdefgCity of Somerville (1901), Municipal Manual of the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville, MA: Somerville Journal Print., p. 183
^ abcdef"Obituary Notes", The New York Times, New York, N.Y., p. 5, November 23, 1878
^Gifford, Stephen Nye (1869), A Manual for the use of the General Court, Boston, MA: Massachusetts General Court, p. 220
^ abCity of Somerville (1901), Municipal Manual of the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville, MA: Somerville Journal Print., p. 184
^ abcdefCity of Somerville (1901), Municipal Manual of the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville, MA: Somerville Journal Print., p. 175
^ abcCity of Somerville (1901), Municipal Manual of the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville, MA: Somerville Journal Print., p. 179
^ abcdefghijCity of Somerville (1901), Municipal Manual of the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, Somerville, MA: Somerville Journal Print., p. 185
^ abHaley, M. A. (1903), The Story of Somerville, Boston, MA: The Writer Publishing Company, p. 85
^ abcDrake, Samuel Adams (1880), History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, Vol. II, Boston, MA: Estes and Lauriat, p. 320
^Drake, Samuel Adams (1880), History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts: Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, Vol. II, Boston, MA: Estes and Lauriat, p. 337