Armed Forces Day

According to the Department of Defense, Armed Forces Day was created in 1949, which means Lew would never have celebrated it. It would probably have been an important holiday to him, however. Lew was very proud of his military service and remained active in veterans' associations and war memorial efforts.

Lew served in both the Mexican War and the Civil War, and actually volunteered for the Spanish-American War. Because he was 71 at the time of the Spanish-American War, his offer was declined. He delivered speeches at occasions such as the dedication of the Greencastle's Soldiers Monument, the reunion of the 11th Indiana in Terre Haute, a United States Naval Academy graduation ceremony, and the dedication ceremony of the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument. He even built a special case in his Study to display some of his military artifacts. With such evidence, we can say confidently that Lew would have appreciated Armed Forces Day.

Lew wasn't the first of his family to serve in the military--his father, David, was a West Point Cadet. Nor was Lew the last. His two grandsons, Tee and Lew, Jr., served in World War I. Tee enlisted in the American Field Ambulance in 1916, before U.S. entry into the war, and drove ambulances for the French Army. After his graduation from Yale, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was killed during a surveillance mission near St. Etienne in October of 1918.

Lew, Jr. was in the National Guard and served in Texas during the Mexican Revolution. In September of 1918, he was sent to France, where he served as a captain in the intelligence service. In 1919 his division was inactivated and he served as aide to General E.M. Lewis until 1920.

Later generations of the Wallace family also continued the tradition of military service. Lew's great-grandsons  III and Bill Wallace both served in World War II, and Lew's great-great-grandson Sanford Miller served in Vietnam.

With such a strong legacy, is it any wonder we think Lew would have approved of a holiday set aside for civilians to thank members of the military for their sacrifices?

Indianapolis National Bank Scandal

By all accounts, Lew Wallace’s older brother William was a capable, honorable, and trustworthy person. From 1855 until 1860, William Wallace and Benjamin Harrison were law partners. Their partnership was just one example of the friendships between the Harrison and Wallace families that crossed the generations. Harrison and Wallace also entered into other partnerships of various kinds including some with Theodore Haughey (pronounced Hoy).


Haughey was born in Delaware in 1826 and moved to Indianapolis in 1848. Theodore married Hannah Moore in 1853 and they had a daughter who died young and two sons, Louis Chauncey and Schuyler Colfax. Theodore worked first as a book keeper and accountant but moved up the ladder of success to become secretary and treasurer of one of the major railroads in Indianapolis. He dabbled in real estate and during the Civil War he was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Indianapolis by President Lincoln. During the war he also became president of the Indianapolis National Bank. Over the years he also became a trustee of Asbury University (now DePauw University) in Greencastle).

Williaml Wallace

The business relationship between William Wallace and Theodore Haughey turned personal when William’s daughter Zerelda married Theodore’s son, Louis Chauncey Haughey. Louis Chauncey and Zerelda had several children: Theodore P., William, Esther, Lawrence G., John D., and Louis C. Several members of the Haughey family followed Theodore in business at the Indianapolis National Bank—and that’s what eventually brought the family down.

Fortunately for William Wallace his friendship with Benjamin Harrison continued over the years. Although William had completed a successful career and had retired, at the age of 64 he was suddenly in need of a job. Many people felt he was working to keep his son-in-law Louis and daughter Zerelda afloat. In 1889, President Harrison, in an effort to help, appointed William the City Postmaster in Indianapolis. This was a difficult position for William Wallace to find himself in but he worked dutifully, enduring some criticism by those seeking Civil Service reform, until his death in 1891. Although William Wallace’s name was never associated with the looming financial debacle, with his passing, the house of cards that the Indianapolis National Bank had become came crashing down.

The Indianapolis National Bank had been organized in 1864 with Theodore Haughey as president and Ingram Fletcher as cashier. It counted among its depositors some of Indianapolis’ most esteemed citizens. Relationships with the rich and powerful were so close that Theodore P. and his wife, Hannah, named their youngest son Schuyler C. Haughey after close family friend Schuyler Colfax—Speaker of the United States House of Representatives during the Civil War, Vice President of the United States, and one of Indiana’s most influential men. The relationship with Schuyler Colfax would prove useful when the bank ran into some difficulties in 1884. Mr. Colfax personally added $27,500 to the bank reserves and encouraged others to do the same.

It’s believed that at this time, the swindles and embezzlement by Theodore P. Haughey started. He began to create fictitious companies, placing his sons Louis and Schuyler in charge of some of them. In ways, some simple and some complicated, Theodore embezzled great amounts of money for almost a decade.

In August of 1893, Theodore was arrested at his home and charged with embezzlement and misapplication of funds and credits of the Indianapolis National Bank. Arrested at the same time were his son, Schuyler Colfax Haughey, and other associates Francis A. Coffin Percival Coffin, and Albert T. Reed. Schuyler, the Coffins, and Reed were charged with aiding and abetting Theodore. Theodore was indicted for embezzling more than $700,000. At the time of the arrests, the bank had liabilities of $2,000,000 and assets of approximately $300,000. Among the 3,000 creditors who lost their savings were charitable aid societies, school teachers and members of Theodore’s church who had trusted him.

The arrest of Theodore sent shock waves through Indianapolis. A business and social leader he had been an esteemed member of the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church, serving the Indiana conference as lay delegate to national conferences and serving for years as a Sunday school teacher. He served as treasurer of the Grand Lodge, Independent Order of Odd-fellows for over 25 years, was chairman of the finance committee for six years of the Second Ward in the Indianapolis City Council and supported numerous charities and worthy endeavors. Glowing tributes directed toward Theodore in the early 1880s were swept away in the early 1890s as his financial misdeeds became known.

As the complicated case wound its way through the court system and decisions were appealed, in some instances all the way to the Supreme Court, it ruined reputations and lives. Theodore pleaded guilty and at the age of 75 was sent to the penitentiary for six years. He was said to be broken in health and newspapers reported that they did not think he would survive the humiliation and disgrace. Theodore actually did survive the humiliation and lived until 1914. His wife Hannah predeceased him by two years, passing away in 1912. In the 1890 census Theodore, recently released from prison, Hannah, and their grandson William were living in a middle class neighborhood on North New Jersey Street. In 1900, they are still in Indianapolis, but they do not show up in 1910 records. Given their advancing ages, Theodore and Hannah may have moved in with family members.

Ultimately, his son Schuyler was acquitted when his case came to trial in 1895 and his other son, Louis (William Wallace’s son-in-law) was not arrested. Although Louis had been involved to some degree, he was not seen as a major player and there may have been some thought that with her husband and other son likely headed to prison, Hannah would have no one to care for her.

Although Theodore and Hannah remained in the city, in the aftermath of this financial collapse and social embarrassment, other members of the Haughey family left Indianapolis. By 1890, Louis C. Haughey and his wife Zerelda had moved to Chicago where census records indicate that their children were living with them and they were still able to have several house servants. By 1920, they had moved to Buffalo, New York and were living in a boarding house. Their children and grand children in turn moved on to places far and wide.

In 1890, Schuyler Colfax Haughey and his wife Gertrude were also living in Chicago in a comfortable residential hotel. Within a few years they left the Midwest and moved to Pasadena, California where they lived the rest of their lives.

Although William Wallace was never implicated in any wrong doing and, in fact, worked to help keep his daughter and her family together, the failure of the Indianapolis National Bank destroyed many lives surely affected the Wallace family personally and financially if not socially.

Sources:
National Bank Frauds by Franck G. Carpenter
History of Indianapolis and Marion County by Berry Sulgrove
History of Greater Indianapolis
A Biographical History of Eminent & Self Made Men of the State of Indiana, 1880

Life of Benjamin Harrison by Lew Wallace
The New York Times, August 22, 1893; November 26, 1893; May 29, 1894

The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum celebrates and renews belief in the power of the individual spirit to affect American history and culture.

Cordelia Wallace Butler

When Lew Wallace courted Susan Elston in the late 1840s and early 1850s, he was pursuing a daughter of one of the richest men in the State of Indiana. By all accounts, Susan adored Lew and was thrilled by his attention. Her very business-like father, however, was not so enamored. Lew had something of a reputation. He hadn’t embraced school, hadn’t been diligent about pursing a career that would provide a stable income, and loved to go off in pursuit of military excitement. Even the distinguished Calvin Fletcher weighed in on young Wallace commenting on Lew and his friends running around Indianapolis as rascals.



William Wallace



In the 1840s, Lew was not the only Wallace boy pursuing Hoosier heiresses. Lew’s older brother William caught the attention of Miss Cordelia Butler. Born in 1828, Cordelia (sometimes spelled Cordilia) was the oldest of Ovid and Cordelia Dyer Cole Butler’s six children. Her father, Ovid, moved to Shelbyville in 1817 and became an attorney. In 1836 he moved his family to Indianapolis where he opened his law practice with partners as prestigious as Calvin Fletcher. Butler was an accomplished orator who quickly gained a reputation for his business skill, for his politics and for his religious views. Butler was a vocal opponent of slavery and in 1849 he established a paper call Free Soil Banner in Indianapolis. Due to poor health and because of his financial successes, he also retired from his law practice about the same time. The Free Soil Banner continued until about 1854 and Lew Wallace, along with William B. Greer, is reported to have had some editorial input into the newspaper.

Although there were schools that had a founding based on Christian theology, there was no state university affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. In the 1840s, Butler and Fletcher became leading proponents for a Christian college in Indiana. In 1850, the State General Assembly authorized the formation of a school for the Christian Movement. The creation of this school became a driving force in Butler’s life and over the next five years he raised $75,000 for the school. In November of 1855 the North Western Christian University opened its doors. For the next sixteen years he served as the head of the Board of Directors and was then made Chancellor of the University. In 1877, the school received a new name, Butler University, in honor of his leadership.

As is common in research, women were much less recorded in historical documents than men. Available records detail much more about Cordelia’s husband and her father than they do about her. No images of Cordelia have come to light and all that we really know about her is that she was born on March 25, 1828 and during their marriage she had nine children. If the date of the birth of her first child is correct, she must have married William Wallace at or before the age of 17. The children of Cordelia and William were Esther (born 1845), Butler (born 1853), Zerelda (born 1854), Willie (born 1856), Lewis (born 1857), Ovid (born 1859), Anna (born 1859), Cordelia (born 1861), and William (born 1866). The birth of William on August 31, 1866 is particularly poignant because Cordelia died that same day at the age of 42.

Given the importance of her father, Cordelia Butler must have been considered one of the most eligible women in Indiana at the time of her courtship. With their limited means and their undoubted concerns about their eighteen year old son, Lew, David and Zerelda Wallace must have been pleased to see their oldest son happily wed to a woman of means with a strong Christian upbringing. As the daughter of Ovid Butler, the wife of successful attorney William Wallace, the daughter-in-law of Governor David Wallace, the sister-in-law to Lew and Susan Elston Wallace and with business associates like Calvin Fletcher and Benjamin Harrison, Cordelia travelled in powerful circles. She must have been a great contributor to the culture and society of Indianapolis during the pivotal years prior to and during the Civil War. While the relationships to the men she was surrounded by have assured that she is remembered to a degree, perhaps one day research will better define Cordelia Butler Wallace as a person in her own right rather just a reflection of those around her.

Tidbit extra: It is through the Butler family that the Wallaces can claim kinship with Booth Tarkington.


The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum celebrates and renews belief in the power of the individual spirit to affect American history and culture.