W. W. (William Wallace) Mills

Born in Thorntown, Indiana, on February 10, 1836, William Wallace Mills became one of the early Anglo settlers in what became El Paso, Texas. He moved there in 1858, following his brother Anson Mills, and later built a varied career as a soldier, businessman, customs collector, consul, and political figure.

During the secession crisis, he and his brother were known as two of the very few anti-secession voters in El Paso. Mills joined Union forces in New Mexico during the Civil War and was at one point captured by Confederate troops. After Union control returned to the region, he served as United States collector of customs at El Paso and took part in Texas Reconstruction politics, including the constitutional convention of 1868–1869.

He is best remembered as the author of Forty Years at El Paso, 1858–1898, a memoir that documents the growth of El Paso and the turbulent history of the border region. Later in life he served as United States consul in Chihuahua, Mexico, from 1897 to 1907. He moved to Austin in 1910 and died there on February 10, 1913.