List of federal judges appointed by Abraham Lincoln

Following is a list of all Article III United States federal judges appointed by President Abraham Lincoln during his presidency.^[1] In total Lincoln appointed 32 Article III federal judges, including 4 Associate Justices and 1 Chief Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, and 27 judges to the United States district courts. Lincoln appointed no judges to the United States circuit courts during his time in office.

Abraham Lincoln.

In 1863, the United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, which had existed since 1801, was abolished. The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the United States District Court for the District of Columbia) was established in its place with 1 Chief Justice and 3 Associate Justices, all 4 positions being filled by Lincoln. These 4 positions are included in the 27 District Judges appointed by Lincoln.

Lincoln appointed 4 judges to the United States Court of Claims, an Article I tribunal. He later laterally reappointed 1 of those judges as Chief Justice of the same court.

• 
  Salmon Portland Chase was Lincoln's choice to be Chief Justice of the United States.
• 
  John Jay Jackson, Jr. was appointed to what was then the Western District of Virginia - which became the District of West Virginia. He remained on the bench until 1905.
• 
  Appointed by Lincoln to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Henry Clay Caldwell was later elevated by President Benjamin Harrison to sit on the Eighth Circuit.

United States Supreme Court justices

#	Justice	Seat	State	Former justice	Nomination date	Confirmation date	Began active service	Ended active service
1	Noah Haynes Swayne	6	Ohio	John McLean	January 21, 1862	January 24, 1862	January 24, 1862	January 24, 1881
2	Samuel Freeman Miller	4	Iowa	Peter Vivian Daniel	July 16, 1862	July 16, 1862	July 16, 1862	October 13, 1890
3	David Davis	8	Illinois	John Archibald Campbell	December 1, 1862	December 8, 1862	October 17, 1862[2]	March 4, 1877
4	Stephen Johnson Field	9	California	Seat established	March 6, 1863	March 10, 1863	March 10, 1863	December 1, 1897
5	Salmon P. Chase	Chief	Ohio	Roger B. Taney	December 6, 1864	December 6, 1864	December 6, 1864	May 7, 1873

District courts

#	Judge	Court [Note 1]	Nomination date	Confirmation date	Began active service	Ended active service
1	Archibald Williams	D. Kan.	March 8, 1861	March 12, 1861	March 12, 1861	September 21, 1863
2	George Washington Lane	M.D. Ala. N.D. Ala. S.D. Ala.	March 26, 1861	March 28, 1861	March 28, 1861	November 12, 1863
3	John Jay Jackson Jr.	W.D. Va./D. W.Va./ N.D. W. Va.	July 26, 1861	August 3, 1861	August 3, 1861	March 15, 1905[3]
4	Fletcher Mathews Haight	S.D. Cal.	August 5, 1861	August 5, 1861	August 5, 1861	February 23, 1866
5	Bland Ballard	D. Ky.	December 9, 1861	January 22, 1862	October 16, 1861[4]	July 29, 1879
6	Philip Fraser	N.D. Fla.	June 14, 1862	July 17, 1862	July 17, 1862	July 26, 1876
7	Connally Findlay Trigg	E.D. Tenn. M.D. Tenn. W.D. Tenn.	July 16, 1862	July 17, 1862	July 17, 1862	April 25, 1880 April 25, 1880 June 14, 1878[5]
8	Caleb Blood Smith	D. Ind.	December 16, 1862	December 22, 1862	December 22, 1862	January 7, 1864
9	Richard Stockton Field	D.N.J.	January 14, 1863	January 14, 1863	January 14, 1863	April 25, 1870
10	David Kellogg Cartter	D.D.C.	March 10, 1863	March 11, 1863	March 11, 1863[6]	April 16, 1887
11	George P. Fisher	D.D.C.	March 10, 1863	March 11, 1863	March 11, 1863[7]	May 1, 1870
12	Abram B. Olin	D.D.C.	March 10, 1863	March 11, 1863	March 11, 1863[7]	January 13, 1879
13	Solomon Lewis Withey	W.D. Mich.	February 26, 1863[Rn 1]	March 11, 1863	March 11, 1863	April 25, 1886
14	Andrew Wylie	D.D.C.	March 18, 1863[Rn 2]	January 20, 1864	March 18, 1863[8][7]	May 1, 1885
15	John Curtiss Underwood	E.D. Va./D. Va.	January 5, 1864	January 25, 1864	March 27, 1863[9]	December 7, 1873[3]
16	Edward Henry Durell	E.D. La./D. La.	January 5, 1864[Rn 3]	February 17, 1864	May 20, 1863[10]	December 4, 1874[11]
17	Mark W. Delahay	D. Kan.	December 14, 1863	March 15, 1864	October 6, 1863[12]	December 12, 1873
18	Thomas Jefferson Boynton	S.D. Fla.	January 5, 1864	January 20, 1864	October 19, 1863[8]	January 1, 1870
19	Richard Busteed	M.D. Ala. N.D. Ala. S.D. Ala.	January 5, 1864	January 20, 1864	November 17, 1863[8]	October 20, 1874
20	Albert Smith White	D. Ind.	January 14, 1864	January 18, 1864	January 18, 1864	September 4, 1864
21	Henry Clay Caldwell	E.D. Ark. W.D. Ark.	May 2, 1864	May 28, 1864	June 20, 1864	March 13, 1890 March 3, 1871[13]
22	David McDonald	D. Ind.	December 12, 1864	December 13, 1864	December 13, 1864	August 25, 1869
23	J. Russell Bullock	D.R.I.	February 9, 1865	February 11, 1865	February 11, 1865	September 15, 1869
24	Charles L. Benedict	E.D.N.Y.	March 6, 1865	March 9, 1865	March 9, 1865	January 1, 1897
25	Arnold Krekel	W.D. Mo.	March 6, 1865	March 9, 1865	March 9, 1865	June 9, 1888
26	Alexander W. Baldwin	D. Nev.	March 10, 1865	March 11, 1865	March 11, 1865	November 14, 1869
27	John Lowell	D. Mass.	March 11, 1865	March 11, 1865	March 11, 1865	January 9, 1879[14]

Specialty courts (Article I)

United States Court of Claims

#	Judge	Nomination date	Confirmation date	Began active service	Ended active service
1	Joseph Casey	July 9, 1861	July 22, 1861	May 23, 1861[15]	March 13, 1863[16]
1.1	Joseph Casey	March 12, 1863	March 13, 1863	March 13, 1863[17]	December 1, 1870
2	Ebenezer Peck	March 6, 1863	March 10, 1863	March 10, 1863	May 1, 1878
3	David Wilmot	March 6, 1863	March 7, 1863	March 7, 1863	March 16, 1868
4	Charles C. Nott	February 21, 1865	February 22, 1865	February 22, 1865	November 23, 1896[18]

Notes

1. See List of United States district and territorial courts

Renominations

1. Renominated on March 10, 1863.
2. Originally nominated on March 10, 1863. Confirmed on March 12, 1863. Senate voted to reconsider nomination on March 13, 1863. Renominated on January 5, 1864.
3. Originally nominated on January 5, 1864. Nomination returned on February 3, 1864. Renominated on February 8, 1864.

References

General

• "Judges of the United States Courts". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Federal Judicial Center. Archived from the original on 2016-07-30. Retrieved 2009-04-03.

Specific

1. All information on the names, terms of service, and details of appointment of federal judges is derived from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public-domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
2. Recess appointment; formally nominated on December 1, 1862, confirmed by the United States Senate on December 8, 1862, and received commission on December 8, 1862.
3. Early in the course of the American Civil War, the western portion of Virginia rejected Virginia's secession from the United States, and itself seceded from Virginia. This area largely coincided with the existing Western District of Virginia. The portion of Virginia remaining loyal to the Union became the state of West Virginia, which was admitted as a state on June 20, 1863. On June 11, 1864, by 13 Stat. 124, the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia became the United States District Court for the District of West Virginia, and those parts of the Western District that were not part of West Virginia were combined with what had previously been the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to again form a single United States District Court for the District of Virginia. John Jay Jackson, who had been appointed to the Western District of Virginia, was reassigned by operation of law to the newly formed District of West Virginia. At the same time, John Curtiss Underwood, who had been appointed to the Eastern District of Virginia, was reassigned by operation of law to the newly formed District of Virginia. On February 3, 1871, the District of Virginia was again subdivided into Eastern and Western Districts, and Underwood was reassigned to the Eastern District, until his death. On July 1, 1901, the District of West Virginia was subdivided into the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia; Jackson was reassigned to the Northern District, until his retirement.
4. Recess appointment; formally nominated on December 9, 1861, confirmed by the United States Senate on January 22, 1862, and received commission on January 22, 1862.
5. Trigg was appointed to the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Tennessee; after June 14, 1878, his service in the Western District was discontinued, though he served in the Eastern and Middle Districts until his death.
6. Appointed as Chief Justice of the court.
7. Appointed as Associate Justice of the court.
8. Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 5, 1864, confirmed by the United States Senate on January 20, 1864, and received commission on January 20, 1864.
9. Recess appointment; formally nominated on January 5, 1864, confirmed by the United States Senate on January 25, 1864, and received commission on January 25, 1864.
10. Recess appointment; formally nominated on February 8, 1864, confirmed by the United States Senate on February 17, 1864, and received commission on February 17, 1864.
11. On July 27, 1866, the two Districts of Louisiana then existing were reunited into a single United States District Court for the District of Louisiana by 14 Stat. 300, and Durell was reassigned to this court by operation of law.
12. Recess appointment; formally nominated on December 14, 1863, confirmed by the United States Senate on March 15, 1864, and received commission on March 15, 1864.
13. Caldwell was appointed to both the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas; after March 3, 1871, his service in the Western District was discontinued, though he served in the Eastern District until March 13, 1890, when he was elevated to the United States Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit.
14. Elevated
15. Recess appointment; formally nominated on July 9, 1861, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 22, 1861, and received commission on July 22, 1861.
16. Laterally appointed as Chief Justice of the same court on March 13, 1863.
17. Laterally appointed as Chief Justice after previously serving as Judge of the same court.
18. Laterally appointed Chief Justice of the same court on November 23, 1896.

Sources

• Federal Judicial Center