The first United States attorney to serve while Indiana was still a territory was Elijah Sparks in 1813. His successor, William Hendricks, witnessed Indiana's admission to the Union as the 19th state in 1816. On April 21, 1928, the federal district for the State of Indiana was divided into the Northern and Southern Judicial Districts, resulting in the creation of the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. The Northern District of Indiana consists of the northern 32 counties of the State of Indiana. The district has three staffed offices in Hammond, South Bend and Fort Wayne. By contrast, the State of Indiana has 92 prosecuting attorneys located in each county seat.

Alexander Morton Campbell (1907–1968) was an Indiana lawyer who served in the United States Department of Justice as Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Criminal Division, formally from August 1948 through December 20, 1949, under Tom C. Clark as U.S. Attorney General (1945–49).