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By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, February 13, 2022

Ben-Hur author dies – Feb. 15, 1905

Lew Wallace (1827-1905), a Union soldier, lawyer, and writer who authored the best-selling historical fiction novel 'Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.' — Lew Wallace (1827-1905), a Union soldier, lawyer, and writer who authored the best-selling historical fiction novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ." | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Union Army soldier Lew Wallace, author of the famed historical novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, died at Crawfordsville, Indiana.

A veteran of both the American Civil War and the Mexican-American War, Wallace’s bestselling novel Ben-Hur was first published in 1880 when Wallace was 53 years old.

“Ben-Hur was an enormous popular success,” explained Britannica, “it was made into a play and a motion picture (1925) and then remade on a spectacular scale in two other motion-picture versions (1959 and 2016).”

In addition to Ben-Hur, Wallace also wrote two other novels, The Fair God and The Prince of India, as well as poetry, a stage play, and an autobiography that was published after his death.