Waller Taylor

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Waller Taylor (1779? August 26, 1826) was an American military commander and politician.

Nothing is known about his early life accept that he was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia where he spent his entire childhood. He studied law and served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1800 to 1802.

In 1804 he moved to Vincennes, Indiana and practiced law there. He was appointed chancelor of the Indiana Territory in 1807. Also in 1807, he became a major in the territorial militia. He fought against Native Americans and served as an aide-de-camp to William Henry Harrison during the Tippecanoe campaign in 1809 to 1810.

Taylor fought in the United States Army during the War of 1812 and rose to the rank of adjutant general.

In 1816, when Indiana became a state, he was chosen along with James Noble to join the United States Senate as the first senators from Indiana. Taylor was elected to a full term in 1818 and left the Senate when that term expired in 1825.

Nothing is known about the rest of Taylor's life accept that he returned to Lunenburg, Virginia, and died there a year after leaving the Senate, of natural causes.

Taylor was a member of the faction in the United States Senate that supported John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. He was also associated with the United States Democratic Republican Party and the United States National Republican Party. He was a strong supporter of slavery and believed that slavery should have been allowed in Indiana, though it was not. He also had a large temper, and unsuccessfully tried to provoke Jonathan Jennings into fighting a duel with him.

Taylor was buried on his family's land in Lunenburg, Virginia.