William Russell (1735 – January 14, 1793) was an army officer and a prominent settler of the southwestern region of the Virginia Colony.

Russell led an early attempt to settle the area that would become Kentucky —then part of Fincastle County, Virginia —in September 1773.

As a Virginia representative to the Continental Congress, he aided in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence [citation needed].

After the fall of Charleston during the American Revolutionary War in 1780, Russell was captured by the British and held prisoner.

During this time, he was brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General, commanding the 5th Virginia Regiment, until it was disbanded on 15 November 1783.