Lewis “Lew” Wallace

Lew Wallace was born April 10, 1827, in Brookville, Indiana and moved to Indianapolis in 1837 when his father was elected governor. He received very little formal education and left school at sixteen. He became a copyist in the county clerk’s office and studied law in his father’s law office. When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, Wallace organized an army of volunteers and served as first lieutenant of the 1st Indiana. After the war, he returned to Indianapolis and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He began practicing law and served two terms (1850 and 1852) as prosecuting attorney of Covington, Indiana. In 1853, he moved to Crawfordsville and was elected to the Indiana Senate in 1856. Governor Oliver P. Morton appointed Wallace state adjutant general when Fort Sumter was bombarded and, on April 25, 1861, colonel of the 11th Indiana, a three-month regiment which was re-enlisted in August for three years. Wallace served in West Virginia and advanced to brigadier general of volunteers on September 3, 1861. He took part in the capture of Fort Donelson and was made a major general to rank from March 21, 1862. Shortly after, at Shiloh, General U. S. Grant told Wallace to march his division from Crump’s Landing to the battlefield. Unfortunately, he got lost and arrived at the battlefield too late and could do no more than assist the following day. In 1863, he prevented the capture of Cincinnati and was awarded the command of the Middle Division and the 8th Army Corps in Baltimore. In July 1864, he helped defend Washington, D. C. against the forces of Jubal A. Early even though his troops were outnumbered by over 22,000 men. In November 1865, Wallace served on the court martial panels that tried men implicated in the assassination of President Lincoln as well as Henry Wirz, commander of the confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Following the war, Wallace spent several months in Mexico fighting against Maximilian and the French. He returned to Crawfordsville where he practiced law and ran unsuccessfully for Congress. In 1878, he assumed the governorship of New Mexico, a position he held until President Garfield appointed him to a four-year term as minister of Turkey. Lew Wallace is best known as an author, with the most famous of his works being Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ published in 1880. Wallace died in Crawfordsville on February 15, 1905, and was buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery

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