Background
BARRY, William Taylor Sullivan was born on December 10, 1821 in Columbus, Mississippi, United States, United States. Son of Richard and Mary (Sullivan) Barry.
BARRY, William Taylor Sullivan was born on December 10, 1821 in Columbus, Mississippi, United States, United States. Son of Richard and Mary (Sullivan) Barry.
Private school, northern university.
He was a nominal Presbyterian. Barry graduated from Yale College in 1841 and studied law, which he practiced in Columbus until he became a planter in 1847 in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. He married Sally Feam, daughter of Confederate Congressman Thomas Feam, on December 20, 1851.
Barry was elected to the Mississippi state legislature in 1850 and 1852 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1853 as a Democrat. In Congress, he vigorously opposed the Know-Nothings and delivered a speech on “Civil and Religious Toleration.” He was again elected to the state legislature in 1854, 1856, and 1858 and served as speaker of the state House of Representatives in 1855. Barry was one of the delegates who walked out of the Charleston Democratic convention in 1860, and he subsequently served as delegate from Lowndes County to the Mississippi secession convention where he voted for secession.
He served as president of his state’s constitutional convention in 1861 and as a member of the provisional Confederate Congresses at both Montgomery and Richmond. He served on the Finance, Constitutional, and Inauguration Committees of the provisional Confederate Congress and resigned to organize a regiment in Mississippi in 1862. As colonel of the 35th Regiment Mississippi Infantry, he took part in the battle of Corinth and the defense of Vicksburg.
He was wounded in the Atlanta campaign and was captured at Mobile in April 1865. Upon his release, he led a secluded life, grew despondent, and yielded to disease. He practiced law in Columbus, Mississippi.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Member Mississippi Legislature, 1849, 50. Member United States House of Representatives from Mississippi, 33d Congress, 1853-1855. Member, speaker Mississippi Lower House, 1855-1861.
Member Confederate Provisional Congress from Mississippi, 1861-1862.
Married Sally Fearn, December 20, 1851.