Lew Wallace

Biography

Lewis “Lew” Wallace (1827–1905) was an American lawyer, Union general, diplomat, and author best known for Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, one of the bestselling novels of the nineteenth century. Born in Brookville, Indiana, Wallace served with distinction in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, where he commanded troops at the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh and helped defend Washington, D.C., during the Confederate raid of 1864. After the war, he served as Governor of New Mexico Territory and as U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire. Wallace wrote Ben-Hur (1880) partly in response to a conversation with the agnostic Robert Ingersoll about the existence of God—the writing process led Wallace to embrace Christianity. The novel became a cultural phenomenon, outselling every American book except Uncle Tom’s Cabin and inspiring the famous 1959 film starring Charlton Heston. Wallace also wrote other historical novels, but none approached the success of Ben-Hur.