[2] He attended the Forwood School and graduated from Professor Sudley's Academy in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1853.

[3] When the civil war broke out, Talley sold his newspaper and organized a company mainly from Delaware County, Pennsylvania known as the Rockdale Rifle Guards.

[6] Talley and 700 captured Union soldier were freed the next day by the cavalry troops commanded by General Philip Sheridan.

Talley was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for Delaware County for the 1874, 1875 and 1876 terms.

From 1877 to 1903, he worked as a proofer for the Congressional Record in the United States Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.[3] Talley was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post Wilde No.