Shannon, Wilson, 1802–77. American political leader, Mount Olivet, Ohio. A lawyer, he entered politics and was governor of Ohio (1838–40, 1842–44), minister to Mexico (1844–45), and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1853–55). In 1855 he was appointed to succeed the deposed governor of Kansas Territory, A. H. Reeder. The territory was at the crux of the struggler between proslavery and free-state supporters. Shannon was barely able to avert warfare in 1855, and the next year John Brown's raid and guerrilla warfare made the territory “bleeding Kansas.” Shannon, who had before that time wearied of eternal strife, resigned and settled in Lawrence to practice law.
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