William Shepperd Ashe (14 September 1814 - 14 September 1862) was a Democratic U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1849 and 1855.

Born in Rocky Point, North Carolina , Ashe attended school in Fayetteville and pusued classical studied 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). In 1848, he was sent to the U.S. House, serving in the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd Congresses (March 4, 1849 - March 3, 1855). During the 32nd Congress, Ashe chaired the Committee on Elections. He did not run again in 1854, but served as the president of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Company from 1854 until his death.

He was elected to one further term in the North Carolina Senate between 1859 to 1861. He was a delegate to the Charleston Democratic National Convention in 1860 and the North Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1861. During the American Civil War, Ashe was a major in the Confederate Army, in charge of all transporation between Virginia and the rest of the South. Ashe was killed in a railroad accident near Wilmington, North Carolina on September 14, 1862. His is buried in a family cemetery in Pender County, North Carolina.