Caleb Blood Smith

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American judge and politician (1808–1864)

Caleb Blood Smith (April 16, 1808 – January 7, 1864) was a United States representative from Indiana , the 6th U.S. secretary of the interior and a district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Indiana .

Education and career

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Smith c. 1860–64

Born on April 16, 1808, in Boston, Massachusetts , Smith moved with his parents to Ohio in 1814. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio , from 1825 to 1826, Cincinnati College (now the University of Cincinnati ) and read law in 1828. He entered private practice in Connersville , Fayette County, Indiana , from 1828 to 1843. He was founder and editor of the Indiana Sentinel in 1832.

He was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1832 to 1837, and from 1840 to 1841, serving as Speaker in 1836.

He was Commissioner to collect assets and adjust debts for Indiana in 1837.

Congressional service

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Smith was an unsuccessful candidate for the 27th United States Congress in 1841. He was elected as a Whig from Indiana's 4th congressional district to the United States House of Representatives of the 28th , 29th and 30th United States Congresses , serving from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1849. He was Chairman of the Committee on Territories for the 30th United States Congress.

Later career

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Smith was appointed by President Zachary Taylor to serve as a member of the board of commissioners to adjust claims against Mexico from 1849 to 1851.

He resumed private practice in Cincinnati , Ohio, from 1851 to 1859. He was a member of the Peace Convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C. , in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending American Civil War . He was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to serve as the 6th United States Secretary of the Interior from March 5, 1861, to January 1, 1863.

However, Smith had little interest in the job and, with declining health, delegated most of his responsibilities to Assistant Secretary of the Interior John Palmer Usher . When Lincoln showed the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, the conservative Smith considered resignation upon its public announcement, but accepted the decision in the end.

Federal judicial service

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Smith was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln on December 16, 1862, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Indiana vacated by Judge Elisha Mills Huntington . He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1862, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on January 7, 1864, due to his death in Indianapolis , Marion County , Indiana. It is unknown where Smith is buried. The reason for this is that Smith's wife, Elizabeth was terrified his body would be desecrated as the southerners were coming from south to north desecrating bodies in graves. He was first buried at Greenlawn cemetery but later moved by his wife to be put in Crown Hill Cemetery, when they opened up in Indianapolis. There is a mausoleum at Crown Hill in Indianapolis but Smith is not buried there.

SEARCH FOR SMITH'S BODY

An investigation into this and opening of mausoleum in 1977 proved that Smith was not there only his wife and child. In 1977 an excavation in the Connersville City Cemetery in Indiana in the Smith-Watton lot was carried out with permission from family members to locate Smith's body. Smith was also not found there.

It has been said that Caleb B. Smith's body is buried in a Connersville, Indiana cemetery. In 1977, John Walker, a Connersville, Indiana resident, received permission from the Smith family, Norvella Thomas Copes, and Nancy S. Hurley, and the city of Connersville, Indiana, to excavate the body of Caleb Blo

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