Battle of Shiloh-- Part 2: A "Great Profanity in the Army Post Office"

Lew Wallace met W.H.L. Wallace at the Battle of Fort Donelson.  Lew Wallace's first impression of W.H.L. Wallace was describing him as looking like a "farmer coming from a hard day's plowing."  As far as them having the same last names, Lew said  that it must have caused "great profanity in the army post office."

For his conspicuous service at Fort Donelson, W.H.L. Wallace was promoted to brigadier general.  During the Army of the Tennessee's movement to Savannah, Tennessee, Union Major General Charles Ferguson Smith injured his leg and turned his division command over to W.H.L.

This is how W.H.L. Wallace came to command troops fighting next to the famous Hornet's Nest at the Battle of Shiloh where they withstood six hours of repeated Confederate attacks, buying time for the Union Army to regroup.

It was here that Wallace was mortally wounded.  He was carried to Grant's headquarters at Cherry Mansion in Savannah and where he met his wife, who provided care and love to him in his final days.  He died in his wife's arms with his last words, "We meet in  heaven."

His body was taken home and buried in Ottawa, Illinois.

He was brother to future Brevet Brigadier General Martin M. Wallace.   Wallace County, Kansas, is named for him.

--Old Secesh