estimated deaths: H. C. Frankenfield, "The Floods of 1927 in the Mississippi Basin," Monthly Weather Review Monthly Weather Review, Supplement 29 (Washington, D.C., 1927), p. 35; MC-A MC-A, May 30, 1927.

economic losses: American Red Cross, The Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster The Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster; Frankenfield, "The Floods of 1927 in the Mississippi Basin," p. 35.

The river itself: Report of Board of [Louisiana] State Engineers Report of Board of [Louisiana] State Engineers, p. 101.

one could cross the head: B. B. Simms to General Jeff Thompson, chief Louisiana state engineer, January 12, 1874, NA, RG 77, entry 522.

"I urgently request": Murphree to Coolidge, April 29, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

"that a visit": Richard Edmonds to Coolidge, April 30, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

"that you go": Thomas Ridgeway to Coolidge, April 25, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

"Big Bill" Thompson: O'Keefe to Coolidge, April 27, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

"Earnestly urge": L. O. Crosby to Coolidge, April 29, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

Eight senators and four: NYT NYT, May 1, 1927.

"More than ever": Murphree to Coolidge, May 3, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

"send me a telegram": Rogers to Everett Sanders, April 30, 1927, Coolidge Papers, microfilm, reel 181, LC.

every single day: NYT NYT, April 18 through May 10, 1927.

references to him: NYT NYT had sixty-four nonflood references to him from April through June 1927, compared to twenty-two from January through March. had sixty-four nonflood references to him from April through June 1927, compared to twenty-two from January through March.

"Since the last report": "The Mississippi Flood and Mr. Hoover's Part in Relief Work," news summaries for May 14, 1927, HHPL.

"The Magazine section": "The Mississippi Flood and Mr. Hoover's Part in Relief Work," news summaries for May 17, 1927, HHPL.

"'There is no honor'": "The Mississippi Flood and Mr. Hoover's Part in Relief Work," news summaries for May 23, 1927, HHPL.

"I can state": Quoted in NYT NYT, May 29, 1927.

"Only three lives": Hoover to White, June 21, 1927, HHPL.

"Unstinted praise": Ibid., June 17, 1927.

"the world lives": Joan Hoff Wilson, p. 82.

"I shall be": Lloyd, p. 84.

CHAPTER T TWENTY-FOUR.

"the best": Interview with Bertram Wyatt-Brown, March 1993; also, Wyatt-Brown, The House of Percy The House of Percy, pp. 192-193.

"Will Percy was": Interview with Betty Carter, January 16, 1996.

"quick as a youth": Walker Percy, Introduction to LL LL, p. viii.

"in a way that": Oral history of Shelby Foote, MDAH.

"He could get": Ibid.

"beautiful and terrible": Walker Percy, Introduction to LL LL, p. viii.

"the loneliest man": Quoted in Richard King, A Southern Renaissance A Southern Renaissance, p. 82; David Cohn, "Eighteenth Century Chevalier," pp. 562-563.

"overjoyed no one": Percy, LL LL, p. 26.

"even more lacerating": Ibid., pp. 58, 95.

"I had not loved": Ibid., pp. 57, 141.

"the most gentle": Ibid., p. 58.

"I must have been": Ibid., p. 141.

"was anguish": Ibid., p. 79.

Will had a brother: Hester Ware, "A Study of the Life and Works of William Alexander Percy," M.A. thesis, p. 17.

"all boy": Percy, LL LL, p. 126.

"perpetuating the name": Percy, LL LL, p. 346.

Crowds overflowed the house: Ware, "A Study," p. 17.

"I am your son": William Alexander Percy, "A Legend of Lacedcaemon," in Selected Poems Selected Poems (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943), p. 380. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1943), p. 380.

"this one-sided correspondence": WAP to Camille Percy, October 6, no year, PFP.

"Mother Dear-it": WAP to Camille Percy, August 15, no year, PFP.

"Mother Dear, Things": WAP to Camille Percy, July 24, 1922, PFP.

"was always happening": Percy, LL LL, pp. 110-111.

"sick for a home": Ibid., p. 112.

"[L]et your writing": WAP to Audrey Bunch, September 4, 1927, PFP.

"first requirement": WAP to DuBose Heyward, July 14, 1923, PFP.

"'How many trees'": Ibid., "L.P.," p. 235; "Enzio's Kingdom," p. 171.

"Father was": Percy, LL LL, p. 270.

"Sappho in Levkas": WAP to DuBose Heyward, July 14, 1923, PFP.

To think n.o.bility: William Alexander Percy, "Sappho in Levkas," in Selected Poems Selected Poems, pp. 40-56.

"some young G.o.d": Ibid., "To Lucrezia," p. 15.

"the best place": LP to C. B. Adams, August 17, 1917, PFP.

"I am considerably": LP to his brother Walker Percy, July 8, 1908, PFP.

"I had attacks": Percy, LL LL, p. 126.

"My father and mother": William Alexander Percy, "The Fifth Autumn," PFP.

"Will moved in their": For a summary of Will's involvement with this community, see Wyatt-Brown, pp. 208, 218-222.

"I'm about convinced": WAP to Janet Dana Longcope, n.d., Special Collections, Louisiana State University Library.

"the center of": WAP to Janet Dana Longcope, n.d., Special Collections, Louisiana State University Library.

"That boy of mine": LP to John Sharp Williams, November 14, 1916, John Sharp Williams Papers, LC.

"There were patches": WAP to LP, August, 31, 1918, PFP.

"Dear Father": WAP to LP, October 4, 1918, PFP.

"honor I deserved": WAP to Camille Percy, November 11, 1918, PFP.

"The negroes": LP to John Sharp Williams, August 4, 1919, John Sharp Williams Papers, LC.

"I can't see": See WAP to John Sharp Williams, February 16, 1921, John Sharp Williams Papers, LC.

"slaveholders began": Percy, LL LL, p. 5.

"[W]hat can a white": Ibid., p. 22.

"their obliterating genius": Ibid., p. 309.

Some, it was rumored: Interview with David Cober, February 25, 1993.

"my only tie": Percy, LL LL, p. 296.

"turn[ing] to stone": William Alexander Percy, "Medusa," in Selected Poems Selected Poems, p. 244.

"I understand": WAP to Brick Row Book Shop, February 25 and March 7, 1922, PFP.

Fellow alumnus Monte Lemann: See Lemann to WAP, October 21, 1926; WAP to Lemann, October 26, 1926, PFP.

CHAPTER T TWENTY-FIVE.

Will returned home: Percy, LL LL, p. 247.

"We heard this storm": Interview with David Cober, February 25, 1993.

"like zero made audible": Percy, LL LL, p. 250.

"Water was": Interview with Jesse Pollard, March 3, 1993.

"Guess you better": Percy, LL LL, p. 251.

"Senator Percy": Interview with Hunter Kimbrough, January 5, 1993; interview with Frank Hall, December 18, 1992; see also Paxton, Three Wars and a Flood Three Wars and a Flood, p. 24.

"All citizens": Mississippi National Guard, Report of Flood Relief Expedition Report of Flood Relief Expedition, MDAH; Paxton, p. 25.

"Flood conditions": GD-T GD-T, April 23, 1927.

Rumors began to spread: JC-L JC-L, April 24, 1927.

"Conditions Greenville": Gen. Malin Craig to A.G., April 23, 1927, NA, RG 94, Office of the Adjutant General.

the city water supply: Mississippi National Guard, Report of Flood Relief Expedition Report of Flood Relief Expedition, MDAH.

"The situation here": NOT NOT, April 25, 1927.

"Whatever Senator Percy": Interview with M. L. Payne, March 4, 1993.

"The city will": GD-T GD-T, April 23, 1927.

"It is the plan": NOS NOS, April 23, 1927.

the government steamer Control: NOT, GD-T Control: NOT, GD-T, and NOT-P NOT-P, all April 25, 1927.

"[N]one of us": Percy, LL LL, p. 258.

Will responded bitingly: Ibid., p. 257.

he found Will: The following account comes chiefly from Percy, LL LL, p. 257; the GD-T GD-T, April 23 through April 29, 1927; and Oral history of Joe Rice Dockery, December 13, 1979, MDAH.