[3] In Cleveland, Smith was a prominent leader of the Hunters' Lodge, a paramilitary organization which aligned itself with Canadian anti-royalist rebellions taking place in 1837 and 1838.

After the rebels declared a new Republic of Canada, Smith was elected its president at a convention of Hunters' Lodges in Cleveland in September 1838.

In sympathy with the Canadian rebellion, the Hunters' Lodges launched the Patriot War against Canada in 1838, but it was ultimately unsuccessful due to the combined efforts of both the American and British governments.

Booth was ultimately pardoned by President James Buchanan at the request of United States district judge Andrew G.

[1][6] Smith was not renominated for another term on the Court, though he was replaced by ideological ally Byron Paine, who had been the attorney for Sherman Booth.

[1] He continued to reside in Milwaukee and practiced law until 1861, when, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, he was appointed to the federal revenue service in South Carolina, where he worked until his death.

He arrived in an exhausted and deteriorating condition and died in New York on June 3, 1865; his remains were returned to Milwaukee for interment.