William Walker (March 5, 1800 – February 13, 1874) was a Wyandot Native American Indian leader and the first provisional governor of Nebraska Territory which also encompassed the present-day state of Kansas.

[1] He was the son of William Walker, Sr., a white man who was captured by Delaware Indians in 1777 in Russell County, Virginia.

Walker was educated in a Methodist school in Worthington, Ohio, and spoke English, French, Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Miami, and Potawatomi;[3] and read Latin and Greek.

"[7] On July 26, 1853, Walker was elected provisional governor of the territory of Nebraska at a meeting at the Wyandot Council house.

[8] Walker's election as provisional governor was not accepted by the federal government, but it prompted Congress to hasten the official organization of the future states of Kansas and Nebraska by passing the Kansas–Nebraska Act 1854.

[10] Walker's political efforts had the objective of preventing the Wyandot from being dispossessed of their lands in Kansas as they had been in Ohio.

He was wrong, although some of the Wyandot, including himself, continued to be respected and to be known as important citizens of the territory and state of Kansas.