William Edwin Starke (1814 – September 17, 1862) was a wealthy Gulf Coast businessman and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

[4] At the outbreak of the Civil War early in 1861, despite his lack of formal military education, Starke was named as the lieutenant colonel of the 53rd Virginia Infantry until June.

His coolness and judgment in the midst of the confusion that followed the death of General Garnett were highly commended by Colonel William B. Taliaferro, who succeeded to command.

In mid-September, Starke's Brigade was part of the force under Stonewall Jackson that captured the large Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, after which they marched into Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 16.

[8] His body was buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, next to his son who had been killed three and a half months earlier at the Battle of Seven Pines.

[1][9] Col. Bradley T. Johnson, in his official report on Second Manassas, wrote concerning the death of Starke: I cannot forbear doing but scant justice to a gallant soldier now no more.