William Douglas O'Connor (January 2 1832 – May 9 1889) was an American author, known in part for his association with Walt Whitman.

[5] In the 1850s he met Sarah Helen Whitman, a poet and romantic interest of Edgar Allan Poe.

O'Connor helped Whitman find employment as a clerk at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

[5] In the years that followed he wrote several other essays in defense of the poet, including "The Carpenter" (1868), which portrayed Whitman as a Christ-like figure.

O'Connor supported the Amendment, which gave Black men the right to vote, while Whitman opposed it.