[7] He also served as a member of the board of visitors that oversaw management of the Knott Trust Fund, which college president Eliphalet Nott left for the school's benefit.

[2] Blatchford practiced law in Manhattan and Auburn, New York with fellow Union College student William H. Seward and other partners, and became a highly skilled corporation and banking attorney as one of the founders of the firm now known as Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

[2] When the charter for the Bank of the United States expired in 1836, Blatchford was responsible for concluding all pending business and resolving all remaining obligations between the two institutions.

[2] Blatchford was also a successful investor and businessman, and his holdings included New York City real estate, as well as land development ventures as far away as Florida.

[2] Because Congress was not in session at the start of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Blatchford, John Adams Dix, and George Opdyke as commissioners of the Union Defense Committee, responsible to expend federal funds on presidential authority for the initial raising and equipping of troops that were mustered into the Union Army.

[2][12] In August 1862, during the Lincoln Administration, Blatchford was appointed U.S. Minister to the State of the Church in Rome, succeeding Alexander Randall.

[20][21] According to published accounts, he stopped at a fruit stand and set down a package so he could reach into his pocket for money to complete a purchase.

[21] Blatchford died at his summer home in Newport, Rhode Island on September 4, 1875, and was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, Section 100, Lot 5643.