United States District Courts in 1859, by the numbers

 In 1859, at the most local tier of federal courts, below the Supreme Court and the Circuit Courts, sat the fifty District Courts of the United States. Each district employed its own local federal judge, district attorney, marshal, and clerk and would meet twice a year. Larger states would be broken up into several districts.  Texas in 1859, for instance, had an Eastern District meeting in Galveston with Judge John C. Watrous presiding, and a Western District centered on Austin, with Judge Thomas H. Duval on the bench. South Carolina made do with one, at Charleston, with Judge A.G. Magrath presiding, James Conner as district attorney, and D.H. Hamilton as federal marshal. All district courts had set times and places for sittings.  For example, in Illinois, the Northern District met in Chicago on the first Monday in July and the third Monday in December, while the Southern District met in Springfield on the first Monday in January and in June. (By John Osborne)