George Mathews (Georgia)
George Mathews (
1739–
1812) was an
United States planter, merchant, and pioneer from
Virginia and western
Georgia. He served in the
Continental Army during the
Revolutionary War then settled in Georgia. He served as Governor of Georgia and one term in the
U.S. Congress.
George was born to John and Ann (Arthur) Mathews on
August 30,
1739 in
Augusta County, Virginia. His father was an
Irish immigrant from
Ulster, who brought his young family to the Virginia frontier. Young George helped expand the family enterprise. He went into business with his older brother, Sampson, and the brothers acquired property as far west as the
Greenbrier district. Their commercial or mercantile efforts extended to oversees markets.
George joined the militia, and became active in civic affairs. He became a vestryman in the church, a
Captain in the militia, and the sheriff of Augusta County. He earned a military reputation leading his company in the
Battle of Point Pleasant against the
Shawnee Indians during
Lord Dunmore's War in
1774.
Mathews was named the Colonel of the
9th Virginia Regiment in early
1777. Soon after he led them north to join the
Continental Army, but met with serious reverses. In the
Battle of Germantown on
September 26,
1777 his entire regiment was killed, captured, or scattered. Mathew himself became a
Prisoner of War, at first held at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the
British withdrew from there, he was moved to a prison ship, anchored in
New York harbor.
By
1779 Mathews gave a limited
parole and was permitted to live in New York City, He wrote to Governor
Thomas Jefferson and to the
Continental Congress urging an exchange, but exchanges were limited by disagreement at the highest levels. He was finally exchanged in
1781, but got back into action only after the
Battle of Yorktown.
Mathews was named commander of the
12th Virginia Regiment, but this was only a nominal. command, since his new regiment had been prisoners since the fall of
Charleston in May of 1780. But, he went south to work with any available force in clean up actions in
South Carolina and
Georgia.
Mathews was impressed with what he saw as the opportunities on the Georgia frontier. Released from service in 1783, he bought land in
Wilkes County. He augmented that with land grants, given for Revolutionary War service. He liquidated his Virginia property, and moved his family to a log cabin there. He and his wife, Polly, would raise their children there and in their later, larger house. In all, they had eight: John, Charles Lewis, George, William, Ann, Jane, Margaret, and Rebecca.
George encouraged other Virginia families to help settle the area. He became a judge in Wilkes County, and a town commissioner for
Washington, Georgia. Then in
1787 he was a successful candidate for the Georgia Assembly. His bearing and military experience gained the respect of the other members, and they named him Governor that same year. He attended the state convention that ratified the
United States Constitution. He was elected to the
United States House of Representatives in
1789 but served only one term.
Mathew's political career had struck its first bump. His identification as a
Federalist and his involvement in land speculation caused him to lose the Election for the
U.S. Senate in
1792. But, by
1793 he had regained enough support to again be chosen Governor.
His second administration was much less successful than his first. He couldn't get Federal support or funding from the Assembly for his planned series of frontier forts to protect against stepped up raids by the
Creek Indians. Frustrated, Mathews again turned to dealing with land speculators in an effort to maintain his popularity. When the western land speculation, known as the
Yazoo Land Fraud became public, his career was over.
James Jackson resigned from the U.S. Senate and returned to replace him as Governor in the
1796 election.
Mathews started afresh in the
Mississippi Territory. Poly had died, so he married a widow, Mary Carpenter, who owned property there. A few years later he again became involved with politics, at first as a spy. U.S. President
James Madison and he had conceived a plan to annex
East Florida, then governed by
Spain. English and other European colonists had been abandoned by Britain after the Revolutionary War. He was to foment a rebellion in
St. Augustine, then lead troops in to make the annexation a reality. Mathews succeeded in the first steps, and early in
1812 activated a commission from Madison as a Brigadier General, and gathered local troops for the invasion.
But, in
Washington, D.C., the congress became alarmed at the possibility of being drawn into war with Spain. Madison was forced to recall his commission, and the effort fell apart. Mathews decided to go to Washington to appeal his case personally. But, on the trip he became ill and was forced to stop in
Augusta, Georgia. He died in Augusta on
August 30,
1812, and was buried in St. Paul's Churchyard there.
*
Mathews' Congressional Biography
