Biography

Lew Wallace was born in Brookville, Indiana. He prepared for a legal career, but interrupted his studies to raise a company of infantry for service in the Mexican-American War in 1846. In 1849 he was admitted to the bar. He also served as Indiana State Senator.  In the Civil War he served with the Union forces and attained the rank of major general of volunteers. "At the Battle of Monocacy (July 9, 1864), he was defeated by the Confederate general Jubal A. Early but nevertheless prevented the latter from capturing the Federal capital, Washington, D.C. He served as president of the courts of inquiry that investigated the conduct of the Union general D.C. Buell and condemned the Confederate captain Henry Wirz, commander of the notorious Confederate prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, Ga. He was a member of the court that tried the persons charged with assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. In 1865 Wallace resigned from the army and returned to law practice. He held two diplomatic positions by presidential appointment. He was governor of New Mexico (1878–81), and then minister to Turkey (1881–85)."
Wallace was also an author, most well-known for writing the romantic tale "Ben-Hur."