s mayor
of St Louis (1842-1843), and as judge of the court of common pleas
(1843-1849), he removed to Maryland (1852), and devoted himself to law
practice principally in the Federal supreme court. He was United States
solicitor in the court of claims from 1855 until 1858, and was
associated with George T. Curtis as counsel for the plaintiff in the
Dred Scott case in 1857. In 1860 he took an active part in the
presidential campaign in behalf of Lincoln, in whose cabinet he was
postmaster-general from 1861 until September 1864, when he resigned as a
result of the hostility of the Radical Republican faction, who
stipulated that Blair's retirement should follow the withdrawal of
Fremont's name as a candidate for the presidential nomination in that
year. Under his administration such reforms and improvements as the
establishment of free city delivery, the adoption of a money order
system, and the use of railway mail cars were instituted --the last
having been suggested by George B. Armstrong (d. 1871), of Chicago, who
from 1869 until his death was general superintendent of the United
States railway mail service. Differing from the Republican party on the
reconstruction policy, Blair gave his adherence to the Democratic party
after the Civil War. He died at Silver Spring, Maryland, on the 27th of
July 1883.

Another son, FRANCIS PRESTON BLAIR, jun. (1821-1875), soldier and
political leader, was born at Lexington, Kentucky, on the 19th of
February 1821. After graduating at Princeton in 1841 he practised law in
St Louis, and later served in the Mexican War. He was ardently opposed
to the extension of slavery and supported Martin Van Buren, the Free
Soil candidate for the presidency in 1848. He served from 1852 to 1856
in the Missouri legislature as a Free Soil Democrat, in 1856 joined the
Republican party, and in 1857-1860 and 1861-1862 was a member of
Congress, where he proved an able debater. Immediately after South
Carolina's secession, Blair, believing that the southern leaders were
planning to carry Missouri into the movement, began active efforts to
prevent it and personally organized and equipped a secret body of 1000
men to be ready for the emergency. When hostilities became inevitable,
acting in conjunction with Captain (later General) Nathaniel Lyon, he
suddenly transferred the arms in the Federal arsenal at St Louis to
Alton, Illinois, and a few days later (May 10, 1861) surrounded and
captured a force of state guar