Benjamin Taliaferro ( ; 1750 – September 3, 1821) was a politician and

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He had served in the Revolutionary War, reaching the rank of captain. An attorney, he was later appointed as a judge of the county court and the Georgia Superior Court. He also served in the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Legal provisions The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia Ho ...

and as a delegate to the state's constitutional convention of 1798.

Biography

Taliaferro was born in present-day

Amherst County, Virginia Amherst County is a county, located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is also named Amherst ...

, in 1750 to an

Anglo-Italian Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom of Italian heritage. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, some ...

family, the

Taliaferro Taliaferro ( ), also spelled Talliaferro, Tagliaferro, Talifero, or Taliferro and sometimes anglicised to Tellifero, Tolliver or Toliver, is a prominent family in eastern Virginia and Maryland. The Taliaferros (originally , which means "ironcutt ...

s, who had settled in Virginia in the early 17th century from London. Having completed preparatory studies, Taliaferro served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

as a lieutenant in the rifle corps commanded by General

Daniel Morgan Daniel Morgan (1735–1736July 6, 1802) was an American pioneer, soldier, and politician from Virginia. One of the most respected battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783, he later commanded troops during the sup ...

. He was promoted to captain, participated in the

Battle of Princeton The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777, and ending in a small victory for the Colonials. General Lord Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the comman ...

, volunteered to serve in

Lee's Legion Lee's Legion (also known as the 2nd Partisan Corps) was a military unit within the Continental Army during the American Revolution. It primarily served in the Southern Theater of Operations, and gained a reputation for efficiency, bravery on t ...

, and was captured by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

at Charleston in 1780.Smith, pp. 342–343 In 1782, Benjamin Taliaferro married Martha Meriwether in Virginia. The couple had nine children together. After his wife died, Benjamin married again, and had his tenth child with his second wife."Benjamin Taliaferro 1750-1821"
''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' After the Revolutionary War ended, Taliaferro was among the pioneers who settled in

Wilkes County, Georgia Wilkes County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,593. The county seat is the city of Washington. Referred to as "Washington-Wilkes", the county seat and co ...

(1784). He was appointed a judge of the superior court.Smith, p. 343 He established a successful

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

along the Broad River, becoming one of the largest slave holders in Wilkes County. He was elected to the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...

beginning in 1786. In the 1790s, he played an important role in resisting the state government's

Yazoo land scandal The Yazoo land scandal, Yazoo fraud, Yazoo land fraud, or Yazoo land controversy was a massive real-estate fraud perpetrated, in the mid-1790s, by Georgia governor George Mathews and the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia politicians sold large ...

. He engaged in at least one

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

to defend his honor. In 1795 Governor George Mathews appointed Taliaferro as major general of the

Georgia Militia The Georgia Militia existed from 1733 to 1879. It was originally planned by General James Oglethorpe prior to the founding of the Province of Georgia, the British colony that would become the U.S. state of Georgia. One reason for the founding of th ...

3rd Division. He was elected to the

, after the state reorganized its government in 1789, and he served as senate president there from 1792 to 1796. He was a delegate to the Georgia state constitutional convention in 1798. He was elected as a

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

to the

6th United States Congress The 6th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in Washington, D ...

and then re-elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the 7th Congress, where he served from March 4, 1799, until his resignation in 1802. He was later appointed as a judge of the Georgia Superior Court and a trustee for the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

. He died in Wilkes County on September 3, 1821.

Honors

Taliaferro County, Georgia Taliaferro County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,559, down from the 2010 census when the population was 1,717, making it the least populous county in Georgia and the second-le ...

was named in his honor.

Footnotes

References

Retrieved on March 4, 2009 *Carol Ebel, ''First Men: Changing Patterns of Leadership on the Virginia and Georgia Frontiers, 1642-181'' (PhD diss., University of Georgia, 1996). *George R. Gilmer, ''Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia, of the Cherokees, and the Author''(1855; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1965). *Lee A. Wallace Jr., ''The Orderly Book of Captain Benjamin Taliaferro, 2d Virginia Detachment Charleston, South Carolina, 1780'' (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1980). *Smith, Gordon Burns, ''History of the Georgia Militia, 1783-1861, Volume One, Campaigns and Generals'', Milledgeville: Boyd Publishing, 2000. ASIN:B003L1PRKI. {{DEFAULTSORT:Taliaferro, Benjamin 1750 births 1821 deaths American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges Taliaferro County, Georgia People from Amherst County, Virginia Continental Army officers from Virginia University of Georgia people

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

Georgia (U.S. state) Federalists Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state) American slave owners