Taliaferro County was once known as "Five Points" because it was carved from five counties: Hancock, Greene, Oglethorpe, Wilkes and Warren. It dates to 1825 and is named for Colonel Benjamin Taliaferro of Lighthorse Harry Lee's Legion during the Revolutionary War. Crawford, the county seat, is named for William H. Crawford, a U. S. secretary of the treasury and minister to the court of Napoleon.