{{Short description|American politician}} {{Use American English|date=March 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William S. Barry | image = William S. Barry.png | birth_date = December 10, 1821 | birth_place = [[Columbus, Mississippi|Columbus]], [[Mississippi]] | death_date = January 29, 1868 (aged 46) | alma_mater = Yale College | order= Member of the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]] for Mississippi | term_start = February 4, 1861 | term_end = February 17, 1862 | order1 = Member of the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] from [[Mississippi's 2nd congressional district|Mississippi's 2nd district]] | term_start1 = March 4, 1853 | term_end1 = March 4, 1855 | allegiance = {{Flag|Confederate States of America}} | rank = [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] | commands = 35th Mississippi Infantry | battles = [[American Civil War]] * [[Vicksburg Campaign]] * [[Atlanta Campaign]] * [[Battle of Fort Blakeley]] }}
'''William S. Barry''' (born '''William Taylor Sullivan Barry'''; December 10, 1821 – January 29, 1868) was a Mississippi politician who served as a member of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]], was president of the January 1861 [[Mississippi Secession Convention]], and served as a member of the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]]. After leaving the Confederate Congress, he enlisted as a soldier in the [[American Civil War]], serving as commanding officer of the 35th Mississippi Infantry Regiment.
==Biography== Born in [[Columbus, Mississippi]], William S. Barry graduated from [[Yale University|Yale College]] in 1841 and was initiated into [[Skull and Bones|Skull and Bones Society]] in his last year.<ref name=YaleObit>{{cite book |title= Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College Deceased During the Academical Year Ending in July, 1869 |year= 1869 |publisher= [[Yale University]] |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=320}}</ref><ref name="psiupsilon">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/twelfthgeneralca00psiurich |title= The twelfth general catalogue of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity |publisher=The fraternity |access-date= March 24, 2011 |year= 1917|last1= Fraternity |first1= Psi Upsilon }}</ref>{{rp|67}} He was admitted to the bar in 1844 and then practiced law in [[Columbus, Ohio]]. He served as member of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] from 1849 to 1851.<ref name="Warner">{{cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Ezra J. |last2=Yearns |first2=W. Buck|date=1975 |title=Biographical Register of the Confederate Congress |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biographical_Register_of_the_Confederate/riBfDwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |pages=15-16|isbn= |access-date=10 April 2026}}</ref> He was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] in the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855), then returned to the state legislature, becoming Speaker of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] from 1856 to 1857.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rowland |first=Dunbar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJ4yAQAAMAAJ |title=Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form |date=1907 |publisher=Southern Historical Publishing Association |pages=84 |language=en}}</ref> By 1860, he held seven people as slaves.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last=Smith|first=Timothy B. |author-link= |date=2014|title=The Mississippi Secession Convention |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Mississippi_Secession_Convention/AgYbBwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |pages=|isbn=}}</ref>
A staunch secessionist, Barry served as president of the [[Mississippi Secession Convention|Mississippi secession convention]] in January 1861.<ref name="Warner" /> He was then chosen as one of Mississippi's representatives to the [[Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]]. In Congress he advocated extreme measures, such as reopening the [[Atlantic slave trade]] (banned by the United States in 1808), the prohibition of any Confederate state from outlawing slavery without the unanimous consent of the other states, and giving the President unlimited powers to raise troops.<ref name="Warner" /> Barry chose not to run for reelection, leaving office in February 1862. He then enlisted in the [[Confederate States Army]] and raised the 35th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, serving as its colonel and at times acting as brigade commander.<ref name=MDAH>{{cite book |last=Rowland |first=Dunbar. |author-link= |date=1908 |title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Volume 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCYLAAAAMAAJ |location= |publisher=Mississippi Department of Archives and History |pages=698–704|isbn=}}</ref> He was captured and paroled at the [[Siege of Vicksburg]],<ref name="Warner" /> then returned to his regiment and took part in the [[Atlanta campaign]]. Barry was seriously wounded at the [[Battle of Allatoona]] on October 5, 1864.<ref name="Warner" /> He was captured again following one of the final major battles of the war, at [[Battle of Fort Blakeley|Fort Blakeley, Alabama]] on April 9, 1865,<ref name="Warner" /> and was held prisoner at [[New Orleans]] until May 1, 1865. After his release, Barry resumed the practice of law in Columbus, where he died on January 29, 1868. He is interred in the [[Friendship Cemetery|Odd Fellows Cemetery]].<ref>Allardice, Bruce S.'' More Generals in Gray.'' Baton Rouge: [[Louisiana State University Press]], 1995. {{ISBN|0-8071-3148-2}} (pbk.)</ref>
== Personal life and family == Barry was the son of Columbus residents Richard Barry and Mary (Sullivan) Barry.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rowland |first=Dunbar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLC0kgvJJG4C |title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi |date=1917 |publisher=Department of Archives and History |pages=886–887 |language=en}}</ref> He was married to Sarah Fearn.<ref name=":0" /> Their son, William Shelby Barry (born 1857), represented [[Leflore County, Mississippi|Leflore County]] in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] from 1888 to 1890 and from 1912 to 1920.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{CongBio|B000193}} * {{find a Grave|13093938}} * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/barry.html#963.93.88 William S. Barry] at ''[[The Political Graveyard]]''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, William S.}} [[Category:1821 births]] [[Category:1868 deaths]] [[Category:American Civil War prisoners of war]] [[Category:Confederate States Army officers]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Mississippi]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives]] [[Category:People of Mississippi in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Politicians from Columbus, Mississippi]] [[Category:Signatories of the Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Signatories of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States]] [[Category:Speakers of the Mississippi House of Representatives]] [[Category:Yale University alumni]] [[Category:United States representatives who owned slaves]] [[Category:Members of Skull and Bones]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature]] [[Category:Burials at Friendship Cemetery]]