Lew Wallace

70 posts

Portrait, oil on canvas, of David Wallace

Thanksgiving and the Wallaces

We talk a lot about Lew and Susan Wallace here at the blog, but someone who isn’t mentioned often is Lew’s father David Wallace. David  attended West Point Military Academy and began practicing law in Indiana in 1823. He served in the Indiana State Legislature from 1828 to 1830. In […]

Lew Wallace and Veterans Day

Since Veterans Day wasn’t established until 1919 (as Armistice Day), you may wonder about the title of this blog post. But although Veterans Day was not observed in Lew’s day, Decoration Day (the precursor to Memorial Day) was. Lew was also very interested in the fate of veterans, and remained […]

A sketch for Lew Wallace's patent for a fishing pole with the reel on the inside

Lew Wallace, Fishing Fanatic

Did you know that Lew Wallace was crazy about fishing? Lew had a moat on two sides of the Study and stocked it so he could fish from the back porch. In the winter, he could fire up the coal furnace in the Study basement and stick his fishing pole […]