Caleb Blood Smith

Caleb Blood Smith (1808–1864) practiced law and served in the Indiana House of Representatives. His strong support of Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign led to his appointment as secretary of the Interior. Smith was in ill health, however, so his tenure was unremarkable save for the historic 1862 signing of the Homestead Act—the administration of which fell to the Department's General Land Office. Smith left Interior later that same year to fill a seat on the U.S. District Court in Indiana but died shortly after.

This is one of two secretarial portraits painted by John Mix Stanley, an artist-explorer widely respected for his landscapes of the American West and portraits of American Indians. An 1865 fire destroyed most of Stanley's work, so his surviving pieces are relatively scarce.