William Black Anderson (April 2, 1830 – August 28, 1901) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.

Despite being admitted to the bar, he never practiced law, instead pursuing agricultural work as a farmer and surveyor.

[2] During the American Civil War, Anderson entered the Union Army as a private, eventually rising to the rank of colonel of the 60th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

[1][3] On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Anderson for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.

[3] After one term, he left politics, eventually taking a job with the Internal Revenue Service in 1885–1889 and as a United States pension agent from December 1893 to January 1898.