George Shannon (c. 1785–1836), the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (not counting the infant Jean Baptiste Charbonneau), was born in Pennsylvania of Irish ancestry.
[1] He joined the Corps of Discovery in August 1803, as one of the three men (and Seaman) from Pittsburgh[2] recruited by Lewis as he was waiting for the completion of the voyage's vessels in the city.
In 1807 he was with a party led by Nathaniel Pryor that was attempting to return the Mandan chief Sheheke to his people.
He was wounded in an encounter with the Arikaras and lost a leg; he would eventually receive a government pension.
Later, Clark asked him to join a fur trading enterprise, but Shannon chose to study law instead.
[4] In 2001, a number of northeastern Nebraska communities formed Shannon Trail Promoters, with the goal of increasing tourism in the forthcoming bicentennial year of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
[8] Shannon has been featured elsewhere in literature, film and television including Ken Burn's Lewis and Clark where he was voiced by Tim Clark, Leon Martell's Bea[u]tiful in the Extreme where he was portrayed by Andrew David James.