John Palmer Usher

John Palmer Usher (1816–1889) was an able attorney who had briefly been Indiana's attorney general. He came to the nation's capital to serve at the Department of the Interior as assistant secretary for a fellow Indianan, Secretary Caleb Blood Smith. As Smith's health and inclination for the office declined, Usher was effectively the acting secretary, and President Lincoln nominated him as the logical successor after Smith's resignation. Usher had little political influence or stature, however, and made limited contributions. While he took a slightly more humanitarian approach to Indian affairs than many of his contemporaries, his interests increasingly favored the Pacific Railroad project. After leaving the Department, he became the solicitor for the Kansas Pacific Railroad and served a term as the mayor of Lawrence, Kansas.