Wilson Shannon (February 24, 1802 – August 30, 1877) was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician from Ohio.

Shannon resigned on April 15, 1844, to take up an appointment from President John Tyler as Minister to Mexico.

Shannon went to California in the 1849 gold rush but returned and later won election to the U.S. 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.

"[4] 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 retaliation, John Brown and a small group of followers moved along Pottawatomie Creek, 40 miles south of Lawrence, killing five proslavery settlers.

Shannon lost complete control of the territory and left for St. Louis on June 23, 1856, leaving Daniel Woodson as acting governor.

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.