William Whitley (August 4, 1749 – October 5, 1813), was an American pioneer in what became Kentucky, in the colonial and early Federal period. Born in Virginia, he was the son of Scottish Presbyterian immigrants from northern Ireland, then the Ulster Plantation. He was important to the early settlement of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky, where he moved with his family from Virginia. He served with the Kentucky militia during the Northwest Indian War.
He was married and his eleven children lived to adulthood, settling as far West as Oregon. At the age of 64, Whitley signed up to serve in the War of 1812. He was killed in Canada at the Battle of the Thames; some accounts credit him with killing Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader allied with the British.