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Lew Wallace

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Author

The Resume

    (April 10, 1827-February 15, 1905)
    Born in Brookeville, Indiana
    Union general during the US Civil War
    Governor of New Mexico Territory (1878-81)
    US Minister to the Ottoman Empire (1881-85)
    Wrote the novel 'Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ' (1880)

Why he might be annoying:

    At the Battle of Shiloh, he took the wrong road after being ordered to support General William T. Sherman, with the result that he missed the first day of fighting, having spent it marching to and fro (April 6, 1862).
    As governor of New Mexico, he allegedly offered Billy the Kid a pardon to testify against other participants in the Lincoln County War, then reneged on the deal.
    His offer to raise and lead a division of volunteers for the Spanish-American War was turned down by the government (1898).
    He then tried to enlist in the Army as a private, but was rejected because of his age.
    The New York Times claimed, ''Ben Hur' appealed to the unsophisticated and unliterary. People who read much else of worth rarely read 'Ben Hur.'' (1905)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He said the orders he received at Shiloh never specified which road he was supposed to take.
    Although General Ulysses S. Grant said that his orders did tell Wallace which road to take, he conceded that since he had given the order verbally to an aide, he could not be sure if the orders were transmitted to Wallace accurately.
    At the Battle of Monocacy (July 9, 1864), he delayed Jubal Early's advance on Washington, DC, long enough for reinforcements to reach the city.
    He was married to Susan Elston for 52 years.
    'Ben Hur' surpassed 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe to become the best-selling American novel of the 19th century.
    'Ben Hur' was so popular in both the North and South that one scholar claimed it 'helped to reunite the nation in the years following Reconstruction.'
    'Ben Hur' was the first novel to be blessed by the Pope.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 76.92% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 18 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 33.33% Annoying