W. James Morgan (died 1866) was a Union Army recruiter and officer in the American Civil War. Born in New York, Morgan had experience as a member of militia units in both Ohio and Indiana. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Morgan was living as a grocer in Brunswick, Missouri and began to recruit men for a mounted infantry unit in Federal service to be known as the Morgan Rangers. Morgan was made full colonel and authorized to raise a full regiment of infantry, which was recruited predominantly in northern Missouri. The Morgan Rangers eventually molded into the 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry which completed formation in December, 1861.