- Born
- Died
- Birth nameLewis Wallace
- The son of the governor of Indiana, Lew Wallace lived in Indianapolis as a young boy. He served in the Mexican War, and afterwards became a lawyer and was elected to the state Senate. He served again in the Union army during the Civil War, reaching the rank of major general. He was noted for repulsing an attempted raid by Confederate Gen. Jubal Early on Washington, DC, in 1864. After the Civil War, Wallace was appointed governor of New Mexico Territory and later minister to Turkey. He was a prolific author, although he is most famous for "Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ", which was turned into a play that was produced on Broadway and later filmed several times, the most famous one being Ben-Hur (1959).
- IMDb mini biography by: Jerry Drake <jdrake@clarity.COM>
- SpouseSusan Arnold Elston(1852 - February 15, 1905) (his death, 1 child)
- As governor of New Mexico Territory in 1879 he offered a pardon to notorious outlaw William H. Bonney (aka Billy the Kid), but subsequently withdrew the offer when Bonney failed to apply for it. Bonney was later shot to death by a sheriff who had been hunting him.
- He was President of the Court at the famous "Andersonville Trial", in which Col. Henry Wirz, commandant of the notorious Confederate POW camp at Andersonvile, GA, was charged with multiple counts of murder for the thousands of Union prisoners who died there of disease, starvation, neglect, shootings, etc. Wirz was found guilty and hanged.
- He is most famous today as the author of "Ben-Hur", which has been filmed several times, most notably in 1959 (Ben-Hur (1959)) starring Charlton Heston.
- One son: Henry Lane Wallace.
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