John Witherspoon Smith

John Witherspoon Smith (1778 – November 7, 1829) was an American lawyer who served as United States Attorney in New Orleans for most of the 1820s.

[2] According to the U.S. National Archives, Smith moved to New Orleans from New York shortly after the completion of the Louisiana Purchase, and "served as clerk of the superior court until Governor Claiborne removed him in 1807.

[6] His official commission date as the first United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, was January 10, 1825; he served until 1829.

[10] In 1827 he was involved in the federal investigation of the illegal importation (from Jamaica by way of Cuba) and subsequent sale of enslaved people to Mississippi River buyers.

[11] Smith was a slave owner himself; records show that around 1829 he purchased two people from Isaac Franklin.