12 Facts About William Cannon

William Cannon was an American merchant and politician from Bridgeville, in Sussex County, Delaware.

William Cannon was a member of the Democratic Party and later the Republican Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as Governor of Delaware during much of the Civil War.

William Cannon married Margaret Ann Barker and had six children.

William Cannon began working in his father's merchandising business in Bridgeville, and gradually expanded it to include lumber, grain, grist and saw mills, and a brick yard.

William Cannon's business interests included peaches, banking, and newspaper publishing, and he was a director of the Delaware Railroad.

William Cannon was the captain of Company E of the First Delaware Cavalry.

The troops came, supervised the election, and William Cannon was elected, defeating Democrat Samuel Jefferson from New Castle County.

However, Fisher lost, and William Cannon faced a General Assembly with a Democratic majority in both houses.

William Cannon served as Governor of Delaware from January 20,1863, until his death while in office on March 1,1865.

William Cannon had become ill, some said, after helping to extinguish a fire.

William Cannon was almost 56 years old and the eighth governor to die in office.

William Cannon died at Bridgeville, Delaware, and was buried there in the Bridgeville Methodist Cemetery.