William W. Wilshire

Born in Shawneetown, Illinois, Wilshire was educated in the country schools. He spent three years in California engaged in gold mining, from 1852 to 1855, when he returned to his home in Port Byron and engaged in the coal mining and mercantile business. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859.

Wilshire entered the Union Army as major in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served from July 16, 1862. Following the Siege of Vicksburg, his regiment was sent to Arkansas and on the Little Rock Campaign under Major General Frederick Steele's force.[1] He resigned July 16, 1864 because of health reasons.

After the war, he relocated to the capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas, and commenced the practice of law. He was appointed solicitor general of the state in 1867. From 1868 to 1871, he was chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He left the position to resume his law practice. Wilshire presented credentials as a Republican member-elect to the Forty-third Congress and served from March 4, 1873, to June 16, 1874, when he was succeeded by Thomas M. Gunter, who had contested Wilshire's election in 1872.

Wilshire was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1876. He engaged in the practice of law in Washington, D.C., where he died August 19, 1888.

He was interred at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.

• United States Congress. "William W. Wilshire (id: W000567)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.