William James Samford (September 16, 1844 – June 11, 1901) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 31st Governor of Alabama and in the United States House of Representatives.

During the American Civil War, Samford served in the Confederate States Army as a lieutenant in the 46th Alabama Infantry Regiment that fought in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

[1] He was taken prisoner in the Battle of Champion Hill in Hinds County, Mississippi and spent eighteen months in captivity at Johnson's Island.

Samford entered politics in 1872, serving as a city alderman and alternate elector for the Horace Greeley ticket.

Though he took office as governor in December 1900, he missed the first few weeks of his gubernatorial term because he was out of the state receiving medical treatment.