AUTHOR: Denisa C. Martin; edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter
Wallace Alexander Propst, my great-great-great-grandfather, was born June 18, 1829, in Hickory, Catawba (then Lincoln) County, North Carolina. (Click on photo at left to enlarge.)
On March 15, 1848, Wallace married Anna Abigail Kent. Wallace and Abigail had 9, or possibly 10, children during their lives.
WALLACE’S WAR EXPERIENCES
Wallace Propst, a thirty-three-year-old farmer living in Catawba County, enlisted on July 4, 1862, in the Confederate Army as a Private. He served in Company E of the North Carolina 57th Infantry. (Click on image below to enlarge.)
On October 25, 1862, Wallace was hospitalized in Richmond, Virginia, due to a remittent fever. On April 8, 1863, he was transferred to Salisbury, North Carolina. He returned to serve with his company by September 1st.
Almost a year later, on July 20, 1864, Wallace was taken prisoner at Rappahannock Station, Winchester, Virginia. He had been wounded in the left gluteal region (hip area) and captured. About a month later, he was confined at Camp Chase, Ohio.
On March 18, 1865, Wallace was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, and from there, he was paroled nine days later and exchanged at Boulware’s Wharf, Virginia.
WALLACE’S LIFE AFTER THE WAR
After the war, Wallace returned home to his farm. He acquired valuable acres of land and even some property in the city of Hickory (in the downtown area), Catawba County, North Carolina. Wallace was a Democrat who served on various political committees that represented 
Hickory, as well as Catawba County.
On January 5, 1911, the local Hickory Democrat newspaper published an article that included Wallace’s account of his war injuries (click on article at right to enlarge).
In 1921, after Wallace’s 92nd birthday, the Hickory Daily Record published that he was one of the county’s oldest citizens (click on article at left to enlarge).
Wallace was seventy-nine years old when Abigail died, but he remained on the farm until the day of the accident that cost him his life. On February 23, 1924, Wallace was wrapped in a blanket, sitting / sleeping by the fireplace, when cinders ignited the rug under his chair. The fire spread very fast and severely burned him. Wallace died from his burns on March 5, 1924, just a few months shy of his 95th birthday.
