Colonel Wallace was commissioned Captain in the 3rd Virginia Regiment on 23 Feb 1776 and served with the 11th, 15th and 25th Virginia Regiments until the reorganization of the Army on Jan 1, 1781 at which time he was transfered as Lt. Col. to the 2nd Virginia Regiment.

While stationed at Charleston, South Carolina, he along with the regiment was captured when it capitulated on the 12th of May, 1780.

While returning from Scotland after the war, he contracted typhus fever and died shortly after arriving back in the United States.