Clark
copied the letters which he received into letter books. The existence of
these letter books was not known until a few years ago, when some
of them were found in the hands of a junk dealer in Lawrence, Kansas,
and were rescued--a great gain to the history of the West.[185]

Many years after he closed his connection with the agency Lawrence
Taliaferro wrote an "Autobiography"--a narrative that shows all the
quaintness and egotism of the man. "Not until after the year 1840", he
wrote "did the government become unfortunate in the selection of their
agents for Indian affairs."[186] From this account can be gleaned
information to supplement the bare facts usually given about his life.
His ancestors had come to England from Genoa, Italy, and later they
emigrated to Virginia. Here Lawrence Taliaferro was born on February 28,
1794. At the age of eighteen he joined the army and served through the
War of 1812, being a first lieutenant when it closed. Although he
received no other promotion he was always known among his associates as
"Major".[187]

He was appointed Indian agent for St. Peter's on March 27, 1819, and on
April 1, 1819, he accepted--resigning the same day from the army.[188]
He reached his new station probably in the summer of 1820, and was
immediately engaged in the duties connected with Indian affairs.[189]
During his term of office he was continually troubled by ill-health
which resulted from his campaigns in the late war. In 1824 he resigned
because of this ill-health, and although he continued in service,
Governor Clark at one time wrote to the Secretary of War that "his fate
is considered as very doubtful."[190]

As early as 1831 he confided to his diary that "there is something of a
Combination of Persons at work day after day to pick at my Actions both
public and private".[191] His resignation finally came in 1839, and he
closed his connection with the Department on January 1, 1840, because he
could no longer endure the machinations of the traders.[192] Thereafter
he made his home at Bedford, Pennsylvania, serving as a military
storekeeper from 1857 to 1863, when he was put on the retired list. Mr.
Taliaferro visited his old home at Fort Snelling in 1856 and wrote
characteristically: "We were in St. Paul on the twenty-fourth of June,
the 'widow's son' was Irving's Rip Van Winkle; after a nap of fifteen
years, we awoke in the midst of _fast_ times. We truly felt bewildered
when we found all the haunts