William Russell (1735 – January 14, 1793) was an army officer and a prominent settler of the southwestern region of the Virginia Colony. He led an early attempt to settle the "Kentuckee Territory" (then part of Virginia). He was a justice of Fincastle County, Virginia. Russell aided in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolutionary War he fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant (1774) and the Battle of Yorktown (1781). While a representative in the Virginia House of Delegates, Russell was noted for his stance opposing the 1785 State of Franklin petition for admittance into the United States.