William Hilton Merritt (September 12, 1820 – July 23, 1891) was an American politician and newspaper editor, who served as mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, from 1880 to 1882.

[1] In 1838, he came to Rock Island, Illinois where he clerked a few months for Naylor and Myers, who sent him to Ivanhoe, Iowa in 1839 to manage a branch store.

[2] [1] In 1847, he returned to Iowa locating at Dubuque where he become editor of the Miners' Express until he withdrew from the paper in May 1848,[3]: 83  and went on a government survey in the northern part of the state.

[2] In 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Merritt withdrew from his business interests to enter the service, at the first call of president Abraham Lincoln for three months troops.

He subsequently raised a company at Cedar Rapids for the Sixth Cavalry, under the promise of a commission as Lieutenant Colonel, failing of which he resigned and again engaged in the newspaper business.