Although many of the themes in Pony are timeless and do not depend on the specific time period in which the novel is set, the historical context is still deeply significant. Pony is set in the fictional town of Boneville, Ohio, between the years of 1858 and 1872. The bulk of the novel takes place in 1860, with the resolution taking place from 1860 to 1866. Many of the dominant political, social, and scientific events of the time period serve as a backdrop for Pony and inform the broader plot, characters, and themes.

In 1860, the legacy of colonialism was still very evident in the form of ongoing disputes over territory, even though the United States became an official nation and gained independence in 1776. Prior to the arrival of European colonizers in North America centuries earlier, Indigenous peoples lived for millennia in what is now called the United States. However, over time, colonizers killed or displaced many of these peoples in order to settle on the land and create a new nation. This context plays a significant role in Pony because Silas encounters large crowds of ghosts who died in battles between colonizers and Indigenous peoples.