Lewis Wallace (April 10, 1827February 15, 1905) was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, artist, inventor, and author from Indiana. Among his novels and biographies, Wallace is best known for his historical adventure story, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880), a bestselling novel that has been called "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century."
Wallace's military career included service in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. He was appointed Indiana's adjutant general and commanded the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment. Wallace, who attained the rank of major general, participated in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, and the Battle of Monocacy. He also served on the military commission for the trials of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, and presided over the trial of Henry Wirz, the Confederate commandant of the Andersonville prison camp.
Wallace resigned from the United States Army in November 1865 and briefly served as a major general in the Mexican Army, before returning to the United States. He was appointed governor of New Mexico Territory (1878–1881) and served as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881–1885). He retired to his home in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he continued writing until his death in 1905.
Early life and education Lewis "Lew" Wallace was born on April 10, 1827, in Brookville, Indiana. He was the second of four sons born to Esther French Wallace (née Test) and David Wallace.McKee, The Early Life of Lew Wallace, p. 206. Lew's father, a graduate of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York,Woodworth, p. 63. left the military in 1822 and moved to Brookville, where he established a law practice and entered Indiana politics. David served in the Indiana General Assembly and later as the state's lieutenant governor, and governor, and as a member of Congress.Gugin and St. Clair, pp. 82, 85.Boomhower, pp. 13–14. Lew Wallace's maternal grandfather was circuit court judge and Congressman John Test.
In 1832 the family moved to Covington, Indiana, where Lew's mother died from tuberculosis on July 14, 1834.Stephens, p. 1; Boomhower, pp. 14, 16; McKee, The Early Life of Lew Wallace, p. 207. In December 1836, David married nineteen-year-old Zerelda Gray Sanders Wallace, who later became a prominent suffragist and temperance advocate. In 1837, after David's election as governor of Indiana, the family moved to Indianapolis.Gugin and St. Clair, pp. 82, 85; Boomhower, p. 19; Stephens, p. 2.Morrow, p. 3.
Lew began his formal education at the age of six at a public school in Covington, but he much preferred the outdoors. Wallace had a talent for drawing and loved to read, but he was a discipline problem at school.Boomhower, p. 9 and 15, and Morrow, p. 4. In 1836, at the age of nine, Lew joined his older brother in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he briefly attended the preparatory school division of Wabash College, but soon transferred to another school more suitable for his age.Boomhower, p. 17. In 1840, when Wallace was thirteen, his father sent him to a private academy at Centerville, Indiana, where his teacher encouraged Lew's natural affinity for writing. Wallace returned to Indianapolis the following year.Gronert, p. 71.Boomhower, pp. 9, 20–21; McKee, The Early Life of Lew Wallace, p. 211.
Sixteen-year-old Lew went out to earn his own wages in 1842, after his father refused to pay for more schooling.Boomhower, p. 22. Wallace found a job copying records at the Marion County clerk's office and lived in an Indianapolis boardinghouse.McKee, The Early Life of Lew Wallace, p. 214. He also joined the Marion Rifles, a local militia unit, and began writing his first novel, The Fair God, but it was not published until 1873.Stephens, pp. 2–3, 13; Boomhower, pp. 3, 9, 23–26. Wallace said in his autobiography that he had never been a member of any organized religion, but he did believe "in the Christian conception of God".Boomhower, p. 11.
By 1846, at the start of the Mexican–American War, the nineteen-year-old Wallace was studying law at his father's law office, but left that pursuit to establish a recruiting office for the Marion Volunteers in Indianapolis. He was appointed a second lieutenant, and on June 19, 1846, mustered into military service with the Marion Volunteers (also known as Company H, 1st Indiana Volunteer Infantry).Stephens, p. 4; Boomhower, p. 3, 26–27; Morrow, p. 6. Wallace rose to the position of regimental adjutant and the rank of first lieutenant while serving in the army of Zachary Taylor, but Wallace personally did not participate in combat.Woodworth, p. 64. Wallace was mustered out of the volunteer service on June 15, 1847,Eicher, p. 551. and returned to Indiana, where he intended to practice law.Stephens, p. 8. After the war, Wallace and William B. Greer operated a Free Soil newspaper, The Free Soil Banner, in Indianapolis."Free Soil Banner", digitized by the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library.
Marriage and family In 1848 Wallace met Susan Elston at the Crawfordsville home of Henry S. Lane, Wallace's former commander during the Mexican War.Boomhower, p. 35. Susan was the daughter of Major Isaac Compton Elston, a wealthy Crawfordsville merchant, and Maria Akin Elston, whose family were Quakers from upstate New York.Stephens, p. 10. Susan accepted Wallace's marriage proposal in 1849, and they were married in Crawfordsville on May 6, 1852.Boomhower, pp. 39–41. The Wallaces had one son, Henry Lane Wallace, who was born on February 17, 1853.Morrow, p. 8.
Early law and military career Wallace was admitted to the bar in February 1849, and moved from Indianapolis to Covington, Indiana, where he established a law practice. In 1851 Wallace was elected prosecuting attorney of Indiana's 1st congressional district, but he resigned in 1853 and moved his family to Crawfordsville. Wallace continued to practice law and was elected as a Democrat to a two-year term in the Indiana Senate in 1856.Stephens, pp. 9, 11, 13; Boomhower, pp. 41, 44.Forbes, p. 388.Morrow, p. 9. From 1849 to 1853, his office was housed in the Fountain County Clerk's Building. Note: This includes and Accompanying photographs.
While living in Crawfordsville, Wallace organized the Crawfordsville Guards Independent Militia, later called the Montgomery Guards. During the winter of 1859–60, after reading about elite units of the French Army in Algeria, Wallace adopted the Zouave uniform and their system of training for the group. The Montgomery Guards later formed the core of his first military command, the 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, during the American Civil War.Stephens, p. 14; Boomhower, pp. 4, 44.
Civil War service Wallace, a staunch supporter of the Union, became a member of the Republican party, and began his full-time military career soon after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861. Indiana's governor, the Republican Oliver P. Morton, asked Wallace to help recruit Indiana volunteers for the Union army.Morsberger and Morseberger, p. 54. Wallace, who also sought a military command, agreed to become the state's adjutant general on the condition that he would be given command of a regiment of his choice.Stephens, pp. 17–18. Indiana's quota of six regimental units was filled within a week,Boomhower, pp. 2, 47. and Wallace took command of the 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was mustered into the Union army on April 25, 1861. Wallace received his formal commission as a colonel in the Union army the following day.Stephens, p. 19.
On June 5, 1861, Wallace went with the 11th Indiana to Cumberland, Maryland, and on June 12, the regiment won a minor battle at Romney, Virginia, (in present-day West Virginia).It was misdated on Wallace's official report. See Stephens, p. 24. The rout boosted morale for Union troops and led to the Confederate evacuation of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, on June 18.Stephens, p. 27. On September 3, 1861, Wallace was promoted to brigadier general of United States Volunteers and given command of a brigade.
Forts Henry and Donelson
On February 4 and 5, 1862, prior to the advance against Fort Henry, Union troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and a flotilla of Union ironclads and timberclad gunboats under the command of Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote made their way toward the Confederate fort along the Tennessee River in western Tennessee. Wallace's brigade, which was attached to Brig. Gen. Charles F. Smith's division, was ordered to occupy Fort Heiman, an uncompleted Confederate fort across the river from Fort Henry. Wallace's troops secured the deserted fort and watched the Union attack on Fort Henry from their hilltop position. On February 6, after more than an hour of bombardment from the Union gunboats, Confederate Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman surrendered Fort Henry to Foote.Stephens, pp. 45–47.
Grant's superior, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, was concerned that Confederate reinforcements would try to retake the two forts when the Union troops moved overland toward Fort Donelson, so Wallace was left in command at Fort Henry to keep the forts secure.Boomhower, 50.Ferraro, p. 127. Displeased to have been left behind, Wallace prepared his troops to move out at a moment's notice. The order came at midnight on February 13. Wallace arrived in front of Fort Donelson the following day and was placed in charge of the newly forming 3rd Division. Many of the men in the division were untested reinforcements.Stephens, p. 48. Wallace's three brigades took up position in the center of the Union line, facing Fort Donelson.
During the fierce Confederate assault on February 15, and with Grant's absence from the battlefield, Wallace acted on his own initiative to send Cruft's brigade to reinforce the beleaguered division of Brig. Gen. John A. McClernand, despite orders from Grant to hold his position and prevent the enemy from escaping and without Grant's authority to take the offensive.Boomhower, p. 51.Grant later approved of Wallace's actions. See Ferraro, p. 127. With the Confederates continuing to advance, Wallace led a second brigade to the right and engaged the Confederates with infantry and artillery. Wallace's decision stopped their forward movement and was key in stabilizing a defensive line for the Union troops. After the Confederate assault had been checked, Wallace led a counterattack that regained the lost ground on the Union right.Stephens, p. 62; Ferraro, p. 127. On March 21, 1862, McClernand, C. F. Smith, and Wallace were promoted to major general in that order for their efforts.Eicher, p. 773. Wallace, who was age thirty-four at the time of his promotion, became the youngest major general in the Union army.Stephens, pp. 67–68; Boomhower, p. 53.
Shiloh
Wallace's most controversial command came at the Battle of Shiloh, where he continued as the 3rd Division commander under Grant. What was to become a long-standing controversy developed around the contents of Wallace's written orders on April 6, the 3rd Division's movements on the first day of battle, and its late arrival on the field.Ferraro, p. 129; Stephens, p. 84. The next day, the reinforcement by Wallace's division and the juncture of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio permitted the Union forces to push back the enemy all day long to gain the victory.Boomhower, p. 7.