John Palmer Usher

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=John Palmer Usher

---

image_width=220px
order=7th
title=United States Secretary of the Interior
term_start=January 1, 1863
term_end=May 15, 1865
predecessor=Caleb Blood Smith
successor=James Harlan
birth_date=birth date|1816|1|16|mf=y
birth_place=Brookfield, New York, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1889|4|13|1816|1|16
death_place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
party=Republican
spouse=
profession=Politician, Lawyer
religion=

John Palmer Usher (January 16, 1816 – April 13, 1889) was a U.S. administrator who served in the Cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.

Born in Brookfield, New York, Usher trekked west in 1839 to locate in Terre Haute in western Indiana where he became a law partner with William D. Griswold in the firm of Griswold & Usher. An outstanding trial lawyer, Usher traveled the circuit in Indiana and Illinois during the 1840s and 1850s, becoming acquainted with Abraham Lincoln of Springfield, Illinois. He also became a mentor to young Joseph Gurney Cannon.

While Usher was serving as the elected Indiana Attorney General in March 1862, Lincoln asked him to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Then-secretary Caleb Blood Smith had little interest in the job, and, with declining health, soon delegated most of his responsibilities to Usher. When Smith resigned in December 1862, Usher became Secretary effective January 1, 1863.

Usher served as the Secretary of the Interior between 1863 and 1865. He was known as genial, courteous, and unobtrusive secretary. When Andrew Johnson took office as president after Lincoln was assassinated, Usher was the first cabinet member replaced.

Usher died of cancer at the age of 73.

External links

* [http://www.mlwh.org/inside.asp?ID=98&subjectID=2 Mr. Lincoln's White House: John Palmer Usher Biography]
* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/utley-mackintosh/index.htm "The Department of Everything Else: Highlights of Interior History] (1989)