Wallach, Richard

Born: 1816-04-03 Alexandria, Virginia

Died: 1881-03-04 Washington, D.C.

Richard Wallach was a city government official, U.S. marshal, and mayor. Wallach attended Columbian College, subsequently studied law, and was admitted to the bar on April 2, 1836. He quickly became involved in Whig politics and won a seat on the Washington Common Council in 1846, which he held until 1848. In 1849, Zachary Taylor appointed him U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, and he maintained that position until 1853. In 1856, he married Rosa Brown, with whom he had six children. He unsuccessfully ran as the Republican candidate for mayor against the anti-Know Nothing and Democrat candidate James G. Berret in 1858 and 1860. Berret was arrested in 1861 for refusing to take the oath of allegiance required of all public servants, and Wallach took his place as mayor and remained in that office until 1868.

Allen C. Clark, "Richard Wallach and the Times of his Mayorality," Records of the Columbia Historical Society 21 (1918): 195-245; Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. (Dayton, OH: United Brethren Publishing House, 1892), 154.