Lew Wallace - Live

    Lewis "Lew" Wallace (April 10, 1827 – February 15, 1905), American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, governor of the New Mexico Territory, politician, diplomat, inventor, and author from Indiana, is best known for his novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). Among his other works are The Fair God (1873), The Prince of India or, Why Constantinople Fell (1893), which Wallace considered his best novel, and The Wooing of Malkatoon (1898), a narrative poem. Wallace was writing his autobiography when he died in 1905. His wife Susan and another author from Crawfordsville completed and published it in 1906.

     Wallace's military career included service in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Appointed Indiana's adjutant general, he later 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, the Defense of Cincinnati, 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 U.S. Army in November 1865 and briefly served as a major general in the Mexican army, before returning to the United States. Wallace was appointed governor of the New Mexico Territory (1878–81) and served as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881–85). Wallace retired to his home in Crawfordsville, Indiana with his wife Susan, where he continued to write until his death in 1905.