Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Remember Lew Wallace...?



You may remember him as a general for the Union Army, or as the appointed governor for New Mexico Territory, or even as the man that carried on  some correspondence with Billy The Kid. However, he was a little more to him than that!

At some point, he managed to have enough spare time to write a couple of books and a play. Did he write anything worth reading? Well, I'll let you decide after reading this article from Listverse!

Lew Wallace Was A Bestselling Novelist

9- wallace

Lew Wallace is best remembered by history buffs as a prominent Union general during the American Civil War. He was a lawyer before the war and afterwards he became a politician, eventually becoming the governor of the New Mexico Territory, a position granted to him by President Rutherford B. Hayes. It is at this time that one of the more unique events of his life took place—his correspondence with renowned outlaw William H. Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid. Wallace promised Bonney that he would receive a full pardon if he testified against others involved in the Lincoln County War (a promise Wallace was not able to keep).


Life in peacetime provided Lew Wallace with plenty of free time and he decided to spend some of that time writing. He first wrote a novel and a play which did not garner any significant attention, but his second novel did. It was called Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and it became the most successful novel of the 19th century. It remained the best-selling book after the Bible until 1936, when Gone with the Wind came out. To this day it has never been out of print.

I would never have thought that ol' Wallace had it in him to write the book. He must have had a lot more spare time than I figured. He did a good job, I'd say!

Coffee out on the patio this morning, OK?

9 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Interesting!

Mamahen said...

You always have interesting bits of trivia.....patio sounds good....Feel like having some ginger snaps this morning...I'll share :))

Chickenmom said...

Never, ever knew that Mr. Hermit!
Great post. I'll bring some apple butter to go with Mamahen's ginger snaps.

Chickenmom said...

Never, ever knew that Mr. Hermit!
Great post. I'll bring some apple butter to go with Mamahen's ginger snaps.

Sixbears said...

Some guys have a more successful career almost by accident than those who work hard at it.

texasann said...

Bubba -
I knew I recognized that name! Wallace also wrote several other faith based books, as well as his account of what happened at the battle of Shiloh, for the defeat of which he was blamed. Maybe I'll go back and pick up a few of his other Christian books, one in particular "The Prince of India" sounds interesting...
Big hugs -

linda m said...

Wow, who knew. I never read the book but I have seen the movie numerous times - one of my favorites. Very stormy here this morning so I'll for sure be joining you on your patio this morning.

Caddie said...

Don't we still have many "Do a Likes" on board today? My word! The books that are coming out, written by the top crop of politicals.

Ah, history does repeat itself, doesn't it, in so many different aspects?

JO said...

New one on me, never knew this either.

I would love some coffee on the patio. Pass the pot please