George Mathews (August 30, 1739 – August 30, 1812) was an American soldier and politician from the U.S. states of Virginia and Georgia. He was a brevet brigadier general in the Continental Army, the 20th governor of Georgia, a U.S. representative from Georgia, and the leading participant in the Patriot War of East Florida.

Born in Augusta County in the Virginia Colony, Mathews was in early life a merchant and planter. As an officer in the colonial militia, he gained statewide fame for his role in the Battle of Point Pleasant of Dunmore's War. He was afterward elected to the House of Burgesses from Augusta County, but did not attend a session. On the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he served as colonel of the 9th Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army. He and his entire regiment were captured on October 4, 1777, in the Battle of Germantown. Mathews spent the next four years as a prisoner of war, including two years on a British prison ship. He was brevetted brigadier general at the end of the war.

After the war, Mathews moved to the state of Georgia and was quickly elected governor of the state. He served two nonconsecutive terms, voted to ratify the United States Constitution, and served in the 1st United States Congress. His second term as governor was overshadowed by his involvement in the Yazoo Land Fraud, which led to his political downfall.

Mathews relocated to the Mississippi Territory and in 1810 was sent as a secret agent by President James Madison to annex the Spanish territory of East Florida for the United States. Mathews was unable to claim the territory peacefully, so he created an insurrectionist force that captured Ferninanda Beach and Amelia Island and turned them over to the U.S. This act, now referred to as the Patriot War of East Florida, was denounced by Spain and its allies. Madison, under political pressure, disavowed Mathews's actions. The vagueness of Madison's instructions to Mathews have led to significant debate among historians as to whether Mathews acted outside of the purview of his mandate.

Early life and education

George Mathews was born on August 30, 1739, in Augusta County in the Virginia Colony to Ann (Archer) and John Mathews. His parents immigrated to America during the early years of the Scotch-Irish on 1717–1775.Waddell, p. 309 His father was an early and notable member of the Augusta County community, serving as a militia captain and de facto public officer, as well as being a member of the Augusta Parish vestry.Waddell, p. 137, p. 309 The Mathews were among the Anglican minority in the predominantly Presbyterian county.McCleskey, p. 203–205 The young George Mathews had ten siblings; six brothers and four sisters. He was "by far the crudest, most dynamic, energetic, colorful, and capable of the seven boys."Herndon, p. 308 He may have been educated at the local Augusta Academy, although whatever schooling he obtained, he remained mostly illiterate throughout his life.Herndon, p. 309 As a boy, George Mathews played and explored in the woods around his father's farm,Patrick, p. 4 and quickly gained experience with frontier dangers from local Indian tribes, rebuffing raids from the Indians into the frontier settlement.Herndon, p. 309

Early career

On his father's death, Mathews was willed of farm landPatrick, p. 4 By 1762, George and a brother, Sampson Mathews, began a mercantile enterprise in Staunton, Virginia, and soon had acquired extensive property along the western frontier as far west as the Greenbrier district. The brothers established several outposts along this stretch, where they sold both frontier necessities and specialty goods, importing goods through Atlantic trade markets. The brothers additionally dealt in forced labor, mostly through contracts for convict servants from Ireland, but also African slaves.Herndon, p. 310 The brothers were among the "soul-drivers" in Virginia who bought convict servants wholesale from British transport ships at port, and traveled along established routes selling the convicts to farmers, planters, and others. Lodine-Chaffey suggests that the brothers' treatment of both convict servants and slaves was suspect, due to the frequency in which the servants and slaves escaped them; the brothers reported three slaves missing in 1769, and ten convicts missing in 1773. In total, their dealings in all ventures accounted for a "great share" of the trade in the region.

Mathews was elected to the Augusta Parish vestry in 1763, joining his brother Sampson who had been a member since 1761. The brothers maintained their seats on the vestry until a shift in political population caused them to be ousted by the Presbyterian majority.McCleskey, p. 203–205

The Mathews brothers were appointed trustees of Staunton in 1772. At this time, Staunton was an important trade center in the backcountry, and it along with other backcountry trade centers like Salisbury, North Carolina, contributed significantly to economic expansion in the colonies, including the development of port cities like Baltimore, Maryland, Norfolk, Virginia, and Alexandria, Virginia. This mid-18th century economic boom has been cited a major origin of the American Revolution.Wood, p. 12⁠–16 Mathews took an increasingly active role civic affairs during this period. In Augusta County he served as a vestryman from 1763 to 1768, high sheriff from 1770 to 1771, and justice of the peace from 1769 to 1770 and 1773 to 1775. He was appointed a captain of militia in 1766.Herndon, p. 310⁠–311

Mathews first gained wider recognition for his role in the October 4, 1774, Battle of Point Pleasant. In the fall of 1774, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore assembled an invasion of Native American territory along the Ohio River, culling a thousand troops largely from the Virginia frontier. The Native Americans, under the Shawnee Chief Cornstalk, attacked Virginia militia, attempting to halt its advance into the Ohio Country. Rembert Patrick described the battle as "a typical Indian battle where every man found a tree, and military discipline in the English sense was unknown."Patrick, p. 4 Mathews, dressed in a hunting shirt and moccasins, killed 9 Indians while remaining uninjured himself.Patrick, p. 5 The tide of the battle turned when the militia enacted a flanking maneuver late in the day, initiating Cornstalk's retreat. Credit for this maneuver has typically been given either to Andrew Lewis or George Mathews.Herndon, p. 312 From his newfound celebrity, Mathews won a special election to what became the last session of the House of Burgesses in 1775. Mathews served alongside Samuel McDowell and succeeded Charles Lewis, who had died in battle before the session began.Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 105 and note 2. He had already represented Augusta County in Virginia's first Revolutionary Convention in August 1774, alongside both Lewis and McDowell.Leonard p. 109 However, Governor Dunmore dissolved the prorougued assembly before it convened in 1776.Herndon, p. 314

American Revolutionary War

Mathews eagerly sought a military commission on the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.Ebel On the creation of the 9th Virginia Regiment in the Continental Army in January 1776, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel. The regiment joined General George Washington's army in December 1776, in which it embarked on Washington's Philadelphia campaign. By February 1777, Mathews was promoted to colonel of the 9th Virginia Regiment.Herndon, p. 315

Mathews's regiment saw its first significant action during the September 11, 1777, Battle of Brandywine. The battle, fought between Washington's army and the British army of General Sir William Howe, was both the largest battle of the Revolution, with nearly 30,000 total belligerents, and the longest single-day battle of the war, with continuous fighting for 11 hours. The British defeated the Americans and forced them into a retreat that "nearly developed into a stampede."Herndon, p. 316 Mathews's regiment was one of the last to leave the field of battle, causing some to credit him for saving the American army from rout.Herndon, p. 316

Following its victory, the British army set up camp in Germantown. On October 4, General Washington launched an attack on the British camp, initiating the Battle of Germantown. Mathews led a charge early in the day that resulted in the capture up to 100 British soldiers; however, as the day progressed Mathews penetrated so deeply into British lines that he became isolated from Washington's army and was engulfed by opposing troops. This resulted in the capture or death of his entire regiment,Herndon, p. 316–317 with Mathews claiming to have "bled from five wounds" during the ordeal.Patrick, p. 5 The given reasons for his capture vary; some claim he did not receive Washington's orders to retreat, while others claim his regiment became lost in the fog and smoke of battle.Herndon, p. 316–317 Nationally, he received acclaim and his reputation grew as a result of his daring.Herndon, p. 317 He spent much of the remaining revolution as a prisoner of war, first held at Philadelphia, and later on a prison ship anchored in New York Harbor. The severity of Mathews's injuries caused a British surgeon to deem him "incurable."Herndon, p. 317

By 1779, however, Mathews recovered was granted a limited parole and permitted to live in New York City. He wrote to Governor Thomas Jefferson and to the Continental Congress urging a prisoner exchange. Jefferson wrote to Mathews to explain his decision to leave him in New York City as a parolee and instead exchange for others still suffering in much worse conditions on the prison ships. Mathews turned his attention toward the improvement of living conditions for fellow prisoners of war, securing money and provisions for this aim from Congress and the State of Virginia.Herndon, p. 320 He was formally exchanged on December 5, 1781, at which point he was given command of the 3rd Virginia Regiment and went with Major General Nathaniel Greene into the southern theater, though he saw no further action in the war.Herndon, p. 320 Mathews was brevetted brigadier general at the end of the war; on September 30, 1783, Congress conferred a "general brevet" on the officers Continental Army, advancing all below the rank of major general by one rank. Mathews was an Original Member of the Society of the Cincinnati.

Political career in Georgia During Mathews's military tour of the South, he had been impressed with the opportunities for political and financial gain on the Georgia frontier. When the 3rd Virginia Regiment was formally disbanded on January 1, 1783, he quickly petitioned the Georgia government for land, and received in Wilkes County.Herndon, p. 322 He liquidated his property and settled his business affairs in Virginia and headed to the new Georgia frontier. There he and his wife, Ann Polly Paul,Herndon, p. 309 built a log cabin at Goose Pond. They had eight children: John, Charles Lewis, George, William, Ann, Jane, Margaret, and Rebecca.Ebel His wife Ann Polly died a few years after their arrival in Georgia. Mathews briefly returned to Staunton, Virginia, in 1790, where he married Margaret Reed, a widow. In 1793, Margaret went back to Virginia to visit friends and family, and when she later wrote to her husband to facilitate her return, he replied, "I didn't take you to Virginia, and I'm not going to trouble myself to go there and bring you back." The two never reconciled, and the Georgia legislature granted a divorce on February 3, 1797.Herndon, p. 323