Which position did Wilson Shannon hold from Mar 1853 to Mar 1855?
Wilson Shannon Wilson Shannon ( February 24 , 1802 – August 30 , 1877 ) was a Democratic politician from Ohio and Kansas . He served as the 14th and 16th Governor of Ohio , and was the first Ohio governor born in the state . He was the second governor of the Kansas Territory . Early life . Shannon was born in Belmont County in the Northwest Territory , the son of an Irish immigrant , George Shannon , who fought in the Revolutionary War . Wilson Shannons elder brother , Thomas Shannon , served a partial term in the United States House of Representatives from 1826–1827 . His oldest brother , George Shannon , was the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition . Ohio politics . After attending Ohio University , Franklin College and Transylvania University , Shannon was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in 1830 . He was prosecuting attorney for Belmont County from 1833 to 1835 . Shannon ran for the U.S . House of Representatives in 1832 , losing by only 37 votes . Shannon then served as a prosecutor in Belmont County before winning election to the governorship in 1838 . He lost a re-election bid to the Whig candidate , Thomas Corwin , in 1840 , but defeated Corwin for a second term two years later . Shannon resigned on April 15 , 1844 , to take up an appointment from President John Tyler as Minister to Mexico . Shannon spent a year in the post before being recalled . Shannon went to California in the 1849 gold rush but returned and later won election to the House of Representatives in 1852 . He served a single term before taking up an appointment from President Franklin Pierce as Governor of the Kansas Territory in 1855 . Kansas Territory . Shannon was commissioned by President Pierce on August 10 , 1855 . He took the oath of office on September 7 , 1855 , and served until June 24 , 1856 , having been sworn into office a second time on June 13 , 1856 . He then served from July 7 through August 18 , 1856 , when he was removed from office by the President . Shannon was known for his Southern sympathies , so much so that he was described by a contemporary as an extreme Southern man in politics , of the border ruffian type . Shannon frequently used federal troops to bring peace to areas of the territory where violence was commonplace . However , the problems of government administration he experienced while Minister to Mexico plagued him in Kansas , and he stumbled into one political crisis after another . In May 1856 , a large proslavery force entered Lawrence and destroyed many buildings and printing presses in what became known as the Sacking of Lawrence . Shannon failed to intervene to protect the citizens and their property . In retaliation , John Brown and a small group of followers moved along Pottawatomie Creek , 40 miles south of Lawrence , killing five proslavery settlers . The Pottawatomie massacre , as it came to be known , brought even more violence into the territory . Shannon lost complete control of the territory and left for St . Louis on June 23 , 1856 , leaving Daniel Woodson as acting governor . While at Lecompton , Shannon offered President Pierce his resignation on August 18 , 1856 , but Pierce had already determined to fire him . In his resignation he wrote that he had received unofficial information of my removal from office , and finding myself here without the moral power which my official station confers , and being destitute of any adequate military force to preserve the peace of the country , I feel it due to myself , as well as to the government , to notify you that I am unwilling to perform the duties of government of this territory any longer . You will therefore consider my official connection at an end . Shannon feared for his life and returned east . He met John Geary , the next territorial governor , on September 7 at Glasgow , Missouri , though their meeting was brief . Despite his troubled term as territorial governor of Kansas , Shannon served the longest continuous term of any Kansas territorial governor , more than nine-and-one-half months of an eleven-month term . Later life . Shannon returned to Kansas soon after leaving office . He set up a law practice in Lecompton , and later a practice in Lawrence and Topeka . To visitors he frequently stated : Govern Kansas in 1855 and 56 ! You might as well attempt to govern the devil in hell . Death and legacy . Shannon died in Lawrence on August 30 , 1877 , and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence . Shannon , Kansas , the first county seat of Anderson County , was named for Shannon . The town ceased to exist in 1860 .