Editing Lew Wallace (section)

===Shiloh controversy===
[[File:Lew Wallace (ca. 1865).jpg|thumb|Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace]]
At first, the battle was viewed by the [[Northern United States|North]] as a victory; however, on April 23, after civilians began hearing news of the surprise and resulting high number of casualties, the Lincoln administration asked the Union army for further explanation.<ref>Stephens, pp. 105–106, and Boomhower, pp. 64–65.</ref> Grant, who was accused of poor leadership at Shiloh, and his superior, Halleck, tried to place the blame on Wallace by asserting that his failure to follow orders and the delay in moving up his division on April 6 had nearly cost the Union the battle.<ref name=Stephens107-8>Stephens, pp. 107–108.</ref>

After hearing reports that Wallace refused to obey anything but ''written'' orders, an angry General Grant asserted that a division general "ought to take his troops to wherever the firing may be, even without orders".<ref>[[#timothy|Smith, Timothy, 2013]] pp. 90–91</ref>

On April 30, 1862, Halleck reorganized his army and removed Wallace and John McClernand from the front lines, placing both of them in reserve, with McClernand commanding.<ref>Stephens, p. 112; Morrow, p. 10.</ref>

Wallace's reputation and career as a military leader suffered a significant setback from controversy over Shiloh.<ref name=Morrow9/> He spent the remainder of his life trying to resolve the accusations and change public opinion about his role in the battle.<ref name=Stephens107-8/> On March 14, 1863, Wallace wrote a letter to Halleck that provided an official explanation of his actions. He also wrote Grant several letters and met with him in person more than once in an attempt to vindicate himself. On August 16, 1863, Wallace wrote Sherman for advice on the issue. Sherman urged Wallace to be patient and not to request a formal inquiry. Although Sherman brought Wallace's concerns to Grant's attention, Wallace was not given another active duty command until March 1864.<ref>Ferraro, pp. 131–134, 138, 145.</ref>

For many years Grant stood by his original version of the orders to Wallace. As late as 1884, when Grant wrote an article on Shiloh for ''[[The Century Magazine]]'' that appeared in its February 1885 issue, he maintained that Wallace had taken the wrong road on the first day of battle.<ref>Ferraro, p. 146.</ref> After W. H. L. Wallace's widow gave Grant a letter that Lew Wallace had written to her husband the day before the battle (the one indicating his plans to use the Shunpike road to pass between Shiloh and his position west of Crump's Landing), Grant changed his mind.<ref name=Stephens232>Stephens, p. 232.</ref><ref name=Ferraro147>Ferraro, p. 147.</ref> Grant wrote a letter to the editors at ''Century'', which was published in its September 1885 issue, and added a note to his memoirs to explain that Wallace's letter "modifies very materially what I have said, and what has been said by others, about the conduct of General Lew Wallace at the battle of Shiloh."<ref name=Ferraro147 /> While reaffirming that he had ordered Wallace to take the River Road, Grant stated that he could not be sure the exact content of Wallace's written orders, since his verbal orders were given to one of his aides and transcribed.<ref name="Stephens232" /><ref name=Grant>Grant, v. I, pp. 351–352.</ref>

Grant's article in the February 1885 issue of ''Century'' became the basis of his chapter on Shiloh in his memoirs, which were published in 1886, and influenced many later accounts of Wallace's actions on the first day of battle.<ref name=Ferraro147 /> Grant acknowledged in his memoirs: "If the position of our front had not changed, the road which Wallace took would have been somewhat shorter to our right than the River road."<ref name=Grant /> Wallace's account of the events appeared in his autobiography, which was published posthumously in 1906.<ref>Ferraro, p. 148.</ref> Despite his later fame and fortune as the writer of ''Ben-Hur'', Wallace continued to lament, "Shiloh and its slanders! Will the world ever acquit me of them? If I were guilty I would not feel them as keenly."{{r|swansburg20130326}}