William Oliver Taylor was a soldier in the United States Army who served as a private in Company A of the 7th Cavalry Regiment. He is notable for being one of the survivors of the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, in which the 7th Cavalry Regiment was defeated by a combined force of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. Taylor was one of the few soldiers who managed to escape the battlefield and make his way back to the river, where he was later rescued by the steamer Far West. He was among the group of survivors who were taken aboard the ship and transported to safety. Taylor's account of the battle, which he wrote in 1876, is considered one of the most detailed and accurate descriptions of the event. It has been widely studied by historians and is still considered an important primary source on the Battle of Little Bighorn.