William Darke (1736 – November 26, 1801) was an American soldier who served with British forces before the Revolutionary War.

He served with British regulars commanded by Major General Edward Braddock in his 1755 expedition to the French-controlled Ohio Valley, as part of the French and Indian War.

As lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of "Levies" in 1791, he commanded the left wing of St. Clair's army at its defeat by the Miami Indians on November 4, 1791.

He made two unsuccessful charges in that fight: his younger son, Captain Joseph Darke, died in the second, and he himself was wounded and barely survived.

[4] Braddock's plan was to capture Fort Duquesne from the French to gain control over the Ohio River and valley.

[4] In the American Revolutionary War, Darke served as a Continental Army captain in the 8th Virginia Regiment; he was wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Germantown in 1777.

As a lieutenant colonel in the Kentucky militia, Darke commanded the left wing at the disastrous Battle of the Wabash in 1791 during the Northwest Indian War.

In 1790, General Josiah Harmar, with a poorly trained and ill-equipped army and volunteer militia, was sent to attack the Northwestern Confederacy of Indians on the upper Maumee River.

President George Washington reinforced the army and assigned General Arthur St. Clair to command.