Lawrence Taliaferro

"I am disgusted with the life of an agent among such discordant materials & bad management on the part of Congress -- the Indian Office."

Taliaferro, in his journal soon after resigning, August 25, 1839

Major Lawrence Taliaferro (pronounced "Tolliver") was born in Virginia in 1791, and served in the U.S. military during the War of 1812.  At the urging of President James Monroe, Taliaferro resigned from the Army in 1819 to accept a position as U.S. Indian agent in the area near the confluence of the St. Peters (Minnesota) and Mississippi Rivers.  A fort was to be builit there, later known as Fort Snelling, and there Taliaferro mediated disputes between the Dakota and the Ojibwe. He attempted to ease tensions between both tribes, the fur traders, and the slowly increasing white population.

Taliaferro presided over the drafting of a treaty in 1837. He brought Dakota leaders to Washington, D.C., and negotiated what he thought were fair terms for Dakota lands east of the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, the U.S. government was unable to keep up its end of the bargain. The Indians ended up debt-ridden and desperate for their means of survival, and Taliaferro became increasingly critical of the United States’ inability to make good on their promises. In poor health, he resigned his position.