John M. Wallace (soldier)

John Milton Wallace (January 2, 1820 – August 25, 1866) was a judge and military officer in the state of Indiana. He served as state Adjutant General at the start of the American Civil War.

Wallace was born in Brookville, Indiana, but his family moved to Marion, Indiana, where he remained and became a lawyer.[1] In 1841, he married Mariam C. Weeks; they had four children together. Wallace served as Grant County judge.[1] He was the brother of David Wallace, state governor from 1837 to 1840,[1][2] and John served as his private secretary.[3]

Wallace moved to Fort Wayne, where he was elected Mayor in 1845, after Mayor Henry Lotz was forced out of office. Wallace served as Mayor of Fort Wayne from 1845 to 1846, when he resigned and moved to Grant County.[4][5]

When the Mexican–American War began in 1846, Wallace raised and commanded his own company,[1] named the "Marion Guards".[6] It was one of 10 companies accepted in May 1847 by Indiana's adjutant general to proceed to Galveston, Texas,[6] where they formed a regiment under Brig. Gen. Joseph Lane.

Wallace was appointed by Governor Oliver P. Morton to the position of Indiana Adjutant General on April 25, 1861,[7] replacing his nephew Lew Wallace.[1][8] On May 3, Wallace was commissioned colonel of the 12th Indiana Infantry Regiment.[7] He resigned his commission on August 6, 1861 due to chronic bowel problems, which prevented him from riding a horse.[9] Wallace subsequently served as a paymaster for the U.S. Army volunteer forces at the rank of major, from August 22, 1861, until resigning in July 1862.[10]

Wallace died at Marion, Indiana on August 25, 1866.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Whitson, Rolland Lewis, ed. (1914). Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 1912. Vol. II. New York: Lewis Publishing Company. p. 675. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  2. ^ Monks, Leander J., ed. (1916). Courts and Lawyers of Indiana. Vol. 2. Indianapolis: Federal Publishing Company. p. 749. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  3. ^ Journal of the House of Representatives at the Twenty-Third Session of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana. Indianapolis: Osborn and Willets. 1839. pp. 106, 389, 643. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  4. ^ History of Grant County, Indiana: From the Earliest Time to the Present, with Biographical Sketches, Notes, Etc., Together with an Extended History of the Northwest, the Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana. Unigraphic. 1974.
  5. ^ Griswold, Bert Joseph (1917). The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana: A Review of Two Centuries of Occupation of the Region about the Head of the Maumee River. Robert O. Law Company.
  6. ^ a b Buley, R.C. (1919). "Indiana In the Mexican War: (Continued)". Indiana Magazine of History. 15 (4): 315. JSTOR 27785916. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  7. ^ a b "A Chronology of Indiana in the Civil War" (PDF). Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  8. ^ Lowry, Jeff (Summer 2015). "Hoosier Adjutants General". Indiana Guardsman. Indiana National Guard. p. 14.
  9. ^ "12th Indiana Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War". Civil War Index. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  10. ^ Monks, Leander J., ed. (1916). Courts and Lawyers of Indiana. Vol. 2. Indianapolis: Federal Publishing Company. p. 586. Retrieved 15 June 2022.