| William Davis Shipman | |
| Office: | Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut |
| Term Start: | March 12, 1860 |
| Term End: | April 16, 1873 |
| Appointer: | James Buchanan |
| Predecessor: | Charles A. Ingersoll |
| Successor: | Nathaniel Shipman |
| Office1: | United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut |
| President1: | Franklin Pierce James Buchanan |
| Predecessor1: | Elisha S. Abernathy |
| Successor1: | Tilton E. Doolittle |
| Term Start1: | 1853 |
| Term End1: | 1860 |
| Birth Date: | 29 December 1818 |
| Birth Place: | Chester, Connecticut |
| Death Place: | Astoria, New York |
| Education: | Read law |
| Signature: | Signature of William Davis Shipman.png |
William Davis Shipman (December 29, 1818 – September 24, 1898) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. He notably presided over the 1861 trial of Nathaniel Gordon, the only person to be convicted and executed in the United States for illegal slave smuggling.
Born in Chester, Connecticut, Shipman read law to enter the bar in 1849 and entered private practice in East Haddam, Connecticut. He was a probate judge in Hartford, Connecticut from 1852 to 1853, a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1853, and the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1853 to 1860.
Shipman was nominated by President James Buchanan on February 28, 1860, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut vacated by Judge Charles A. Ingersoll. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 12, 1860, and received his commission the same day. His service was terminated on April 16, 1873, due to his resignation.
Among the notable cases over which Shipman presided, was the case of the United States v. Nathaniel Gordon. The case resulted in Gordon's execution, which is the only such execution ever under the Piracy Law of 1820.[1] In sentencing Gordon, Shipman said:
Following his resignation from the federal bench, Shipman resumed private practice in New York City until his death on September 24, 1898, in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, New York City.
. Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton. 1st. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870. registration. Cuba, the Forward Sentinel. 774. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1997. 978-0684835655.