Lew Wallace (1827–1905)

On February 15, 1905, Lew Wallace died in Crawfordsville, Indiana, closing a life marked by public duty and a surprising literary witness. Raised in the American Midwest, Wallace became a Union general during the Civil War and is remembered especially for the 1864 Battle of Monocacy in Maryland, where his outnumbered stand delayed Confederate forces and helped shield Washington, D.C. His later service ranged from governing the New Mexico Territory—where he faced the violence of the Lincoln County War and dealt with figures such as Billy the Kid—to diplomatic work abroad as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire.

Yet Wallace’s most lasting influence did not come from uniforms or titles. It came through a story that led readers to consider the Person of Jesus Christ with fresh seriousness.

A Train-Ride Challenge and the Gospels

Wallace’s path to writing began with an argument on a train with famed agnostic orator Robert Ingersoll, who challenged the divinity of Christ. The debate unsettled Wallace, and rather than dismissing the question, he pursued it—turning to careful reading, historical study, and the Gospel accounts themselves. That earnest wrestling became a quiet testimony: honest doubts are not answered by pride, but by seeking truth where God has spoken.

As Scripture says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6)

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Published in 1880, Ben-Hur follows Judah Ben-Hur through betrayal, suffering, and a hunger for justice that ultimately meets mercy at the feet of Christ. Wallace portrays heroism not merely as strength in the arena, but as the courage to repent, forgive, and bow before the Savior. The novel’s chariot races and imperial settings are memorable, but its spiritual center is the transforming power of Jesus—turning vengeance into worship and grief into hope.

Within a decade it sold over 300,000 copies, and its influence endured because it pressed a simple, life-changing question: What will you do with Christ?

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)