Brigadier-General William Henry Wallace was born in Laurens county, March 24, 1827, son of
Daniel Wallace, for several terms a member of the legislature, a major-general of militia, and
from 1849 to 1853 representative in Congress. His grandfather was Jonathan Wallace, a native
of Virginia who removed to South Carolina before the war of the revolution, in which he was a
patriot soldier. General Wallace was graduated at the South Carolina college in December,
1849, and in the following spring was married to Sarah, daughter of Robert Dunlap, of Newberry.
She was the niece of James Dunlap, appointed governor of Florida by Andrew Jackson, and
granddaughter of William Dunlap, a revolutionary soldier who was the grandson of John Hunter,
a native of Ireland who was United States senator from South Carolina in 1801. General Wallace
was occupied as planter in Union county until 1857, when he became the proprietor of the Union
Times newspaper, and in 1859 began the practice of law at Union. In 1860 as a member of the
legislature he supported the call for a convention, and at the expiration of his term he enlisted as
a private in Company A, Eighteenth South Carolina volunteers. A few days later he
was appointed adjutant of the regiment by Col. James M. Gadberry, who was killed at Second
Manassas. Before going into the field the regiment was reorganized, and Wallace was elected
lieutenant-colonel in May, 1861. The regiment was ordered into Virginia in time to engage the
enemy near Malvern Hill in August, after which it fought at the battle of Second Manassas, losing
about half its number in battle, including the gallant Colonel Gadberry. Wallace was at once
promoted colonel, and he led his regiment, in the brigade of Gen. N. G. Evans, through the
battles of South Mountain and Sharpsburg with the army of Northern Virginia. Subsequently he
was on duty in defense of Charleston. In the spring of 1864 the brigade under Gen. Stephen
Elliott was ordered to Petersburg, where Colonel Wallace participated in the defense of the lines
and all the operations of Bushrod Johnson's division. His brigade suffered most heavily at the
battle of the Crater, four companies of his regiment being blown up or destroyed by falling earth
at the explosion of the mine, July 30, 1864. In September he was promoted brigadier-general,
and up to the eve of the surrender he commanded the brigade, fighting gallantly at Gravelly run
and Namozine church on the retreat. At Appomattox Court House, on the night of April 8th, he
was assigned by General Gordon to the command of Johnson's division, in which capacity he
reported to Gen. Clement A. Evans and participated in the last action of the army on the morning
of April 9th. After his parole he devoted himself to the practice of the law, the care of his
plantation and the restoration of good government in the State. He was one of the few
Democrats elected to the legislature in 1872, and was re-elected in 1874 and 1876. In 1877 he
was chosen judge of the Seventh circuit, a position in which he continued to serve with honor
and ability until 1893, when he retired from public life.
Mr's William Wallace, wife of Col. Wm Wallace, died in Col'a October 11th 1873. The writer knew them both, and appends a notice from the Columbia Phoenix of the 12th ins't. [clipping] "... leaves a husband, children, brothers and others relatives... Her remains will be interred, this afternoon, in the Episcopal Church burying ground."
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