February 15, 1905 – Lew Wallace

How would you like these titles: New Mexico territorial governor. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Union Army General. Author of “the most influential Christian book of the 19th century”? Lew Wallace gets all of these and more. You probably guessed by the picture which influential book he wrote but did you know the full title is Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ? Any one of these accomplishments would be more than most of us but he also was one of the military judges at the trial of President Lincoln’s assassins. Lew Wallace died in Crawfordsville, Indiana on February 15, 1905 probably worn out.