Sprigg headed westward to Hagerstown and Cumberland, Maryland (where relatives were merchants) then continued along the Ohio River.
During the interim period, Sprigg received an appointment from President Thomas Jefferson to serve on the highest court in the Territory of Orleans, which he did from January 1806 to November 1808.
[3] Sprigg served on the Illinois court for several years alongside Jesse B. Thomas and Stanley Griswold.
[4] However, when Illinois was on the verge of becoming a state, he and Thomas became the center of controversy about the relative relationship between the judicial and legislative branches, and both wrote to the U.S. Congress.
[citation needed] Judge Spriggs returned eastward, moving to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he died among relatives on September 9, 1827.