Orville Hickman Browning (10 February 1806-10 August 1881) was a US Senator from Illinois (R) from 26 June 1861 to 12 January 1863 (succeeding Stephen A. Douglas and preceding William Alexander Richardson) and the US Secretary of the Interior from 1 September 1866 to 4 March 1869 (succeeding James Harlan and preceding Jacob Dolson Cox).
Biography[]
Orville Hickman Browning was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky in 1806, and he was trained as a lawyer before settling in Illinois. He served in the militia during the Black Hawk War, and he established himself as a successful attorney, becoming involved in politics as a Whig. He served in the State Senate and the State House of Representatives before mounting a failed run for the US House of Representatives. After the downfall of the Whigs in the 1850s, Browning took part in the convention that founded the Republican Party, and he served in the US Senate from 1861 to 1863. He supported Andrew Johnson after the death of Abraham Lincoln, and he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1866 to 1869. He practiced law in Washington DC and Illinois after leaving office, and he became a Democrat. He died in 1881.