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Summing up a man like General Lew Wallace
is an impossible task. But on a visit to his personal study, one can catch
glimpses of a true American hero. Wallace built his study essentially in
his backyard in Crawfordsville, Indiana and filled it with his extensive
library, paintings, inventions, and personal mementos. After a lifetime of
service to his country—militarily, diplomatically, and culturally—Wallace
desired a place to reflect on his life and write his memoirs. In a letter
to his wife, Susan, General Wallace dreamed of his study:
I want a study, a pleasure-house for my soul, where no one could hear me make speeches to myself, and play the violin at midnight if I chose. A detached room away from the world and its worries. A place for my old age to rest in and grow reminiscent, fighting the battles of youth over again. During his lifetime, Wallace gained tremendous fame and success. Upon his death in 1905, fans and curious visitors began a pilgrimage to the study and they continue to this day. The site now known as the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum will celebrate its centennial in 2005. Although Wallace’s greatest work, Ben-Hur, has never been out of print, his other books and those by his wife, Susan Wallace, have only been published sporadically. With this series, produced by Polyglot Press, a new generation of readers will have the opportunity to read the literary works of Susan and Lew Wallace. And, older xviii readers will enjoy reading these works again or discovering volumes previously unavailable.Born in Brookville, Indiana in 1827, Lew Wallace had a spirited childhood romping in the Hoosier wilderness and causing mischief. An unruly student, Lew abandoned his studies at age sixteen. Soon after, he pursued a law career, following in the footsteps of his father, David Wallace, sixth governor of the state of Indiana. However, soldiering was Lew’s passion. During the Mexican War in 1846, Lew served as 2nd Lieutenant of the Company H of the 1st Indiana Infantry and was forever enamored with the military life. Returning to Indiana, Wallace met and married Susan Elston while establishing a successful law practice in Covington. A native of Crawfordsville, Susan was the daughter of a prominent banker, Isaac Elston. After re-locating to Crawfordsville shortly after the birth of Lew and Susan’s only son,Henry,Wallace organized the Montgomery Guards in 1856. Under Lew’s leadership, the Guards, a Zouave unit, gained statewide renown as one of the best trained military units in the state. With the advent of the Civil War, Wallace served as adjutant general of the state, a job he kept for only ten days. An effective recruiter, the federal government requested six regiments, and in five days there were thirteen at Camp Morton in Indianapolis. With that accomplishment,Wallace resigned his post to accept a commission as Colonel of the 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which included many members of the xix Montgomery Guards. In less than a year, Lew Wallace was one of the youngest Union Army major generals at age 34. Wallace and the 11th Indiana were at Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson, and Shiloh. But his greatest accomplishment was at the Battle of Monocacy, while in command of the 8th Army Corps at Baltimore. This pivotal battle, in 1864, is credited with saving Washington, DC from the Confederacy. Although terribly outnumbered,Wallace fought a delaying action that kept Jubal Early outside of the Capitol for 24 hours, giving General Ulysses S. Grant time to send reinforcements to the city. By the time Early’s troops reached DC, the city was well defended and forced his retreat after a small skirmish. After serving as second-in-command of the court martial that tried the Lincoln conspirators and as president of the court which tried Henry Wirz,Commander of Andersonville Prison,Wallace resigned his commission in 1865 and returned to Crawfordsville. Resuming his law practice, Wallace started writing again, a lifelong hobby. During his adolescence,Wallace began drafting a novel about the conquest of the Aztecs in present-day Mexico at the time of Montezuma. Published in 1873 as The Fair God,Wallace’s first novel sold well. That same year,Wallace began researching and writing Ben-Hur. Written primarily under a beech tree on the grounds of his future study, Wallace sat in a rocker using a lap board for his desk. The last few chapters of Ben-Hur were written in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Appointed as Governor of New Mexico Territory by President Hayes in 1878,Wallace was charged with settling the Lincoln County Wars. During negotiations,Wallace used the testimony of Billy the Kid, who was under indictment for killing three men. Choosing to escape and return to a life of crime, Billy the Kid was eventually shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett in 1881. Before |
Wallace left the territory, he signed Kid’s
official Death Warrant. Ben-Hur
was published in 1880, while Wallace was on leave from his gubernatorial
duties, and became one of the best selling books of the 19th century. Just
as Wallace’s appointment was ending in New Mexico, President Garfield
appointed Wallace as U.S. Minister to Turkey. Having read
Ben-Hur, Garfield felt that
Wallace’s familiarity with the Middle East would be an asset. Wallace’s assertive personality proved effective in the Ottoman Empire. He quickly befriended Sultan Abdul Hamid II and was given free access throughout the Middle East. Serving for four years,Wallace resigned in 1885 and traveled in Europe with Susan on the journey home. Sales of Ben-Hur made the Wallaces financially solvent, allowing Lew to retire from law and concentrate on writing. His third novel, The Prince of India, published in 1893, featured the legend of the Wandering Jew and was set during the fall of Constantinople in 1453. During the last decade of his life,Wallace began building his study, which he designed himself. Stylistically a mix of Greek, Romanesque and Byzantine design, the building was state-of-the-art with gas and electric fixtures and indoor plumbing. Built to last, the red brick structure was situated among gardens and water features. As a decorative flourish, the faces of Ben-Hur, Tirzah, the Prince of India, and Princess Irene, were carved into a limestone frieze that wraps the building. Although Wallace never saw the film productions of Ben-Hur (1907, 1925, 1959) he attended the opening night performance of Ben-Hur on Broadway in 1899. The most famous scene, the chariot race, was performed with live horses running on treadmills and a cyclorama moving in the background to create the illusion of circling the arena. The stage production ran for twenty-one years, 2500 performances, and traveled around the world.
While writing his autobiography, Wallace fell ill and passed away at age 77. His wife, who traveled alongside him throughout his entire career, followed him in 1907. As an author, Susan Wallace, is less known than her husband, although she published six books between 1883 and 1903. And, she completed Lew’s autobiography, with the help of her protégé, Mary Hannah Krout, and published it in 1906. Lew Wallace’s affection for Susan is best summed up in his autobiography, "What I have of success, all that I am, in fact, is owing to her." As he prepared to leave Constantinople in 1885, Lew wrote to Susan about his desire to write and the power of the written word: Am I going home to
idleness? No, no. My feet and hands may be still, not so the mind – that
has its aspirations yet, and it will work, for it has a law unto itself.
Idleness is one thing, doing is another. What I will do must be decided
when I reach home. I know what I should love to do – to build a study; to
write, and to think of nothing else. I want to bury myself in a den of
books. I want to saturate myself with the elements of which they are made,
and breathe their atmosphere until I am of it. Not a bookworm, being which
is to give off no utterances, but a man in the world of writing – one with
a pen which shall stop men to listen to it, whether they wish to or not.
It has come to pass that writing is activity which makes a noise like the
galloping of many horses. There are pens which give the sound of
locomotives, and, hearing them in the distances, society waits for them
impatiently. Such a pen is what I want. Can I attain it? I believe so. It
is my final ambition, anyhow, and whether I do so or not, the opportunity
is partly mine, and perhaps the battle half-fought when so much is won. It
is this passion that, I believe, imbued Lew Wallace with lifelong
curiosity and success.
Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko Director, |
