- 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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