authorized by 10 Stat. 612. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 3, 1855, and received his commission the same day. He served as Presiding Judge from 1858 to 1859. The business of the court focused on financial claims against the government and was created as an investigative and deliberative body to help the Congress determine the validity of the claims and to lighten their workload. Given the type of cases dealt with, the decisions of the court received little attention and were primarily advisory in nature, recommending that Congress pay or not pay on the various claims. His service terminated on December 31, 1859, due to his death in Washington, D.C. Death and legacy Blackford's remains were returned to Indiana where he lay in state in the chambers of the Indiana Senate in Indianapolis, and the Indiana General Assembly passed resolutions honoring and celebrating his contributions to Indiana. His bier was attended by thousands of citizens and numerous dignitaries. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery on the edge of Indianapolis. In 1866 his remains were disinterred and were reburied at Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana. There a high marble monument was erected over his grave in his honor. His entire estate was left to his half-sister Charlotte Teresa Coons and was worth an estimated $250,000 ($ in 2020 chained dollars). In 1915 a large oil painting of Blackford was donated to the Indiana Supreme Court, but was subsequently lost during a refurbishing of the Supreme Court offices. A search for the painting was undertaken, and it was rediscovered in 1958 and is hung prominently in the Indiana Supreme Court conference chambers. Blackford County, Indiana was named in honor of Justice Blackford in 1838. Multiple buildings at Perdue University are named in his honor. During his lifetime he became known as the "Indiana Blackstone" because of his renown for Blackford's Reports. His reports remained in popular use many years after his death. Supreme Court librarian, circuit court judge, and historian William Wheeler Thornton states that after Blackford left the Indiana Supreme Court, and once the position was made elective, the prestige of the court that had been built up by Blackford was gradually lost as it became more political and less judicial. It was not until 1971 that the court position was again made appointive. Current Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard described Blackford as the