He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, and was appointed United States associate justice for the district of Utah on June 4, 1858.

[1] Cradlebaugh dismissed the jury and, acting as committing magistrate and accompanied by a military escort, continued his investigation in the vicinity of Mountain Meadows.

United States Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black subsequently barred Cradlebaugh and fellow judge Charles Sinclair from requisitioning troops in Utah.

[5] He was the colonel of the 114th Ohio Infantry and served from April 27, 1862, until honorably discharged on October 20, 1863, on tender of resignation after being wounded in the Battle of Vicksburg.

Cradlebaugh returned to Nevada and engaged in the mining business until his death at Eureka; interment was in Forest Cemetery, Circleville, Ohio.