VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
719
graduation and enlisting in the Confederate
army as a private, Company C, Thirtieth
Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry,
Pickett's division. He fought in many of
the great battles of the war, 1861-1865, es-
caped all the perils of that great conflict and
at the surrender of Lee to Grant was in
command of his company but ranking as
corporal, the company roster bearing but
three names. He there received his parole
and returned home. After the unsuccessful
attempt at farming "Liberty Hall," Alex-
ander W. took the old cavalry horse and
rode around the neighborhood and secured
some six or eight scholars to teach for one
dollar and fifty cents per month, his uncle
giving him his board for teaching his son.
His schoolroom was an old barn of hewn
logs with the chinking partly out and the
roof not sufficient to keep out the storms.
But he persevered, studied law six hour.> in
addition to teaching five hours daily and in
this way completed the law course he was
taking at the university when he went to
the war. At the end of nine months he had
earned enough to purchase a suitable ward-
robe and presenting himself before Judge
R. L. C. Moncure, president judge of the
supreme court of appeals, and Judge Rich-
ard Coleman, of the circuit court, he passed
the required examinations and at the May
term of the Hustings court. 1866, he was
admitted to the bar and at once began prac-
tice in Fredericksburg. He continued in
practice at the bar in Fredericksburg. Vir-
ginia, and the state and Federal courts of
the district for twenty-three years, winning
honorable position among the most able
lawyers of that period, 1866-188Q. In the
latter year he was elected judge of the cor-
poration court, by the Virginia legislature,
for a term of six years ; was reelected in
1895, and again in 1901. On April 13. 1903,
exactlv thirty-eight years after his return
from Appomattox he forwarded his resigna-
tion to the governor of Virginia to take
eflfect on the twenty-seventh of the same
month. Judge Wallace was highly esteemed
as a jurist and the news of his intended
resignation brought forth loud protest from
the newspapers and citizens generally. A
mass meeting was called of the citizens of
Fredericksburg and a committee appointed
to wait upon Judge Wallace to ask him to
withdraw his resignation. This the judge,
while cordially appreciating the debt of
gratitude he owed the people of Fredericks-
burg, declined to do, giving as his reason
that he believed that he could not, under the
constitution of Virginia, legally hold the
office of judge and also serve as a member
of the board of visitors of the University of
Virginia, to which latter position he had
been appointed by the governor and con-
firmed by the senate. Furthermore he was
nearing his sixtieth birthday and it had been
for years his declared purpose to withdraw
from any public position that might in any
way fetter his independence of action at the
age of sixty years. He also felt that as a
member of the board of visitors he could be
of service to the state without being
burdened by confining duty. He therefore
withdrew from the bench and also from
legal practice, but remained a member of the
board of visitors. On his appointment to
the latter position the "Fredericksburg Star"
thus commented on the fact:
We congratulate Governor Montague on his solici- tation of Judge A. Wellington Wallace as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Vir- ginia. In addition to Judge Wallace's well-known natural gifts and legal attainments, he is a scholar whose culture has been added to by years of foreign travel. These qualifications, together with his financial judgment and fine common sense thoroughly equip him for the position. His interest in the State's Uni- versity is shown by his occupying the position of president of our local Alumni Association.
On retiring from the bench there were many written and printed testimonials of esteem, some of which follow:
That the high standard of judicial dignity and legal learning set by Judge Wallace is a lasting bene- fit to the city of Fredericksburg and to the common- wealth of Virginia and entitles his name to a high position among the learned and able men who have made for the courts of this commonwealth a record second to none in legal history. Resolutions of Business Men's Association of Fredericksburg.
On account of the splendid "timber in you, your exalted character, splendid equipment, intellect and culture, somehow I am sorry to see you resign. We want men, clean, strong, independent, as you are.- — JuDGB T. R. B. Wright.
You have been an ornament to the "bench," and I trusted you would continue your service to Vir- ginia.— Judge C. E. NicoL.
You have impressed me. as you have others, as a Visitor of the University. The institution needs the services of such men as you are in directing its policies and at no time to such an extent as at the present. — Professor W. E. Peters.
It is a comfort to find that even under the imper- fect conditions of our earthly lives the gratifying
