Writing from Constantinople to his wife Susan in 1885 about his homecoming plans, Lew Wallace said, “I am not to be driven to the law again, that most detestable of human occupations. I look for better employment.” In his mature years Wallace made it abundantly clear that his employment as attorney […]
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In his Autobiography Lew Wallace says very little about his law practice. He humbly dismissed it as an “an experimental period of my life.” He enjoyed a couple “triumphs,” made a few mistakes that were “not admirable,” and accomplished one or two things that were “smart,” but mostly, he says, I pigeon-hole those years to my “defeat.” Yet he did include a […]
As the Battle of Monocacy loomed 161 years ago this week, the city of Washington panicked. One of the men in Wallace’s small army was Colonel William Seward, son of Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, and the commander of the hard fighting Ninth New York Heavy Artillery. Seward’s […]
When World War I ended in November 1918, Henry Wallace (son of Lew and Susan) and his wife Margaret Noble Wallace were still in mourning. Just weeks earlier they lost their youngest son to the war. Lew and Susan Wallace had one son Henry. Henry and his wife, Margaret Noble […]
On the grounds of the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum there is a large bronze statue of Lew Wallace in his Civil War attire. Lew was selected to be the second of two Hoosiers recognized with statues in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and a committee was formed […]
One of the great Hoosier authors of the early 20th century was Gene Stratton-Porter. Her literary career began its ascent at the turn of the century and continued until her death in 1924 when her limousine was hit by a streetcar in Los Angeles. Always a trailblazer, she had moved to […]
In the development of the 1925 epic film of Ben-Hur, June Mathis, played a critical role until she was removed from the project early in the filming. After the replacement of Ms. Mathis women did not play a significant role in upper management in the film industry for almost 30 years. […]
In March of 1898, Lew Wallace was quoted in the Crawfordsville Weekly Journal when it picked up a story printed in the Indianapolis Journal where the author declared: “Won’t Dramatize It. Gen. Wallace Tells Why He Won’t Have Ben-Hur Put on the Stage. “This evening,” said General Wallace, “I received a letter from a […]
Traveling the Circuit Lew Wallace was an attorney by profession, although he did not particularly enjoy this career. His initial effort at passing the bar in the mid-1840s failed. His first exam, graded by Isaac Blackford, Chief Justice of the Indiana, was not successful; while his answers may not have […]
Lew Wallace was not the only person from Crawfordsville who made a significant difference in the 19th century. Off Wabash Avenue on the east side of Crawfordsville is Canby Avenue. It is one of the few local reminders of E.R.S. Canby, a local boy, friend of Lew Wallace, and one of […]