US Congressman, Idaho Territorial Governor. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a delegate to the US House of Representatives from Washington Territory's at-large district from March 1861 until March 1863, the 1st governor of Idaho Territory from March 1863 until February 1864, and finally a delegate to the US House of Representatives from Idaho Territory's at-large district from February 1864 until March 1865. After attending common local schools in Indiana, he studied law and was admitted to the bar and moved to the Iowa District of Wisconsin Territory in 1837 and began practicing law. He was elected to the Iowa Territorial Legislature as a Whig after Iowa Territory was organized in 1838. He was then appointed colonel of state troops and receiver of public money at Fairfield, Iowa. In 1843 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for delegate from Iowa Territory and in 1848 he was a candidate for US Senate from the newly formed State of Iowa, but the Iowa Legislature did not select him. In 1853 he moved to Washington Territory and in 1861 he was appointed governor of Washington Territory by President Abraham Lincoln, but was also elected the territory's delegate to Congress, serving for one term, and never took office as governor. During his term, Congress established Idaho as a separate territory and when his term expired in March 1863, Lincoln appointed him governor of the new Idaho Territory. He designated Lewiston as the territory's capital and in 1864 he was elected as the delegate from Idaho Territory and again vacated his gubernatorial appointment to serve in Congress. After his term expired in March 1865, he returned to Washington Territory where he served as a probate judge in Pierce County until his death at the age of 67. He was a younger brother of David Wallace, who served as a Whig Governor of Indiana from 1837 until 1840 and the uncle of Lewis "Lew" Wallace, American Civil War Union major general, New Mexico Territorial Governor, and author of "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ' (1880).