William Shepperd Ashe (August 12, 1813 – September 14, 1862) was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms as a Democratic U.S. representative from North Carolina between 1849 and 1855.

Born in Rocky Point, North Carolina in 1813,[2] Ashe attended school in Fayetteville and pursued classical studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Ashe engaged in rice cultivation and studied law; he was admitted to the state bar in 1836 and practiced in New Hanover County.

Active in the Democratic Party, Ashe was a presidential elector in 1844 and was elected to the North Carolina Senate for a term of two years (1846–1848).

During the American Civil War, Ashe was a major in the Confederate Army, in charge of all transportation between Virginia and the rest of the South.