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William Fleming (18 February 1729 – 5 August 1795) was a physician, soldier, and planter who briefly served as acting Governor of Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.

Fleming was born in Jedburgh, Scotland, to Leonard and Dorthea Fleming. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and then entered the Royal Navy, serving as a surgeon's mate. While in the service, he was captured and imprisoned by the Spanish. After his release, he resigned from the navy and in 1755 emigrated to Virginia.

During the French and Indian War, Fleming was commissioned an ensign in George Washington’s Virginia Regiment, and served as a surgeon in the Forbes expedition and in the Anglo-Cherokee War, among other actions. When the war ended in 1763, he married Anne Christian and settled at Staunton, Virginia, where he practiced medicine. In 1768 he retired from medicine to farm at his estate called "Bellmont" in Botetourt County (now Montgomery County). His investments in land eventually made him wealthy.

In Dunmore's War (1774), Colonel Fleming led the Botetourt County militia at the Battle of Point Pleasant. He continued to lead his men after being shot twice, but a third, more serious wound forced his withdrawal. Disabilities from this wound, from which he never fully recovered, prevented his military service in the American Revolutionary War. The Virginia Assembly awarded him £500 in compensation.

Fleming was active in politics during the American Revolution, representing a western district as a member of the Senate of Virginia. In 1781, British forces invaded Virginia and scattered Governor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature. When the legislature reconvened at Staunton, Jefferson's term had expired, and so Fleming, as senior member of the Virginia Council in Staunton, acted unofficially as governor. He served in this capacity from 1 June to 12 June, when Thomas Nelson was elected by the legislature as the next governor. During this brief time Fleming called out the Virginia militia to oppose the British invasion. A later resolution of the legislature indemnified Fleming for his actions.

After the war Fleming attended the Danville Convention (1784), and the Virginia convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution (1788).

William Fleming High School in Roanoke, Virginia, is named for him.

• Gordon, Armistead C., Jr. "William Fleming". Dictionary of American Biography.
• Selby, John E. The Revolution in Virginia, 1775–1783. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.

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