 Colonel Dickey's regiment was shipped to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee where it participated in the Battle of Shiloh.From 1868 to 1870, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the United States for all suits in the court of claims, and often argued before the United States Supreme Court in that role.Dickey was elected a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in December 1875 and held that office until his death in 1885.