William Alexander Percy

William Alexander Percy (May 10, 1834 – January 19, 1888) was an American lawyer, planter, and Democratic politician. He was the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1878 to 1880 and the father of U.S. senator LeRoy Percy.

Early life William Alexander Percy was born on May 10, 1834, in Huntsville, Alabama. He was the son of Thomas George Percy (1786–1841) and his wife, Maria (Pope) Percy. After his father's death in 1841, Percy moved along with his widowed mother and his brothers John Walker and Leroy to Washington County, Mississippi, where they reclaimed a tract of land which Percy's father had owned. Percy then attended Princeton University, graduating with a B.A. in 1853. He then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, graduating around 1855.

Military career At the start of the U.S. Civil War, Percy joined the Confederate Army as a captain in the 22nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. As the South was now in the Reconstruction period, Percy, a Democrat, dedicated himself to restoring the planters' authority, viewing the free, voting, landowning blacks as a "social, political, and economic threat". In 1873, he established a "taxpayers' convention", a coalition of white landowners, to remove Republicans from power. He focused on his law practice and also served on the Levee Board. After retiring from politics, Percy advocated for increased railroads as well as sturdier levees. Percy died on January 19, 1888, aged 53 years.

Personal life Percy married Nancy Irving Armstrong on February 23, 1858. They had five children: Fannie, who died in 1882; William A., a lawyer in Memphis, Tennessee; LeRoy, a U.S. Senator; Walker, a lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama; and Lady, who married Charles McKinney.