Order for United States District Court for the Territory of Nebraska. Transcription: Territory of Nebraska
Douglas County
It is hereby ordered
that the October term1861 – of the
United States dist. court for the
territory of Nebraska be held in
the court house – of Douglas County
___ Oct 12-1861
W.P. Kellogg
Chief Justice N.T.
Research Notes: William Pitt Kellogg was an impressive politician from the state of Louisiana during the Reconstruction era. He served as a U.S. congressman, U.S. Senator, and Governor all for the state of Louisiana. Before the Reconstruction years, Kellogg served as the Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court in 1861. He was appointed to this position by Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, Pitt took a leave of absence from this position and became a Colonel in a Illinois Volunteer Calvary Regiment. After 1862 he returned to Nebraska and to his Supreme Court judgeship before relocating to Louisiana through another appointment by President Lincoln as Federal Collector of Customs at the port of New Orleans where Kellogg would ultimately launch his long political career in the post Civil War years.
