George Mathews (soldier)

{{See also|Mathews family}}

George Mathews was born on August 30, 1739, in Augusta County in the Virginia Colony to Ann (Archer) and John Mathews.{{cite journal|last1=Herndon|first1=G. Melvin|title=George Mathews, Frontier Patriot|journal=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|date=1969|volume=77|issue=3|pages=307–328|jstor=4247487}} His parents immigrated to America during the early years of the Scotch-Irish on 1717–1775.{{cite book| last=Morton | first=Oren| year=1978| title= Annals of Bath County, Virginia | publisher= C.J. Carrier Co.| location = Harrisonburg, Virginia | oclc = 656749557 | url= https://archive.org/details/annalsofbathcoun00mort | access-date= April 17, 2020|page= [https://archive.org/details/annalsofbathcoun00mort/page/40 40]|ref=Morton }}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{{efn|Mathews was able to and did write letters which had a "unique" way of spelling things which included laugh as "laf," knock as "nok," and coffee as "kaughphy."Patrick, p. 17}} 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

On his father's death, Mathews was willed {{convert|300|acre||adj=pre}} 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.{{cite journal |last1= Handley|first1=Harry |date=1963 |title=The Mathews Trading Post |url= http://www.gillilandtrails.org/pages/MathewsTradingPost.asp|journal=The Journal of the Greenbrier Historical Society |volume= 1|issue=1 |access-date=April 17, 2020}} The brothers additionally dealt in forced labor, mostly through contracts for convict servants from Ireland, but also African slaves.Herndon, p. 310{{cite web |url=http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/countyRecords/relatedAd.php?adFile=sg73.xml&adId=v1773111875 |title=Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, November 11, 1773. |website=The Geography of Slavery in Virginia |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=April 17, 2020 }} 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.{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Schmidt |first=Frederick |date=1976 |title=British convict servant labor in colonial Virginia |publisher=College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences |url=https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3526&context=etd|access-date=September 20, 2020 |page=58}} 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.{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Lodine-Chaffey |first=Jennifer |date=2006 |title=From Newgate to the New World: a study of London's transported female convicts 1718-1775 |publisher=The University of Montana|url=https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10120&context=etd|access-date=September 20, 2020 |page=58}} In total, their dealings in all ventures accounted for a "great share" of the trade in the region.{{cite book| last1=Van Schreeven| first1= William| last2=Scribner| first2= Robert| last3=Tarter| first3= Brent| year=1973| title=Revolutionary Virginia, the road to independence, vol. 5. Independence and the Fifth convention| publisher= University Press of Virginia | location = Charlottesville, Virginia | oclc = 802770|ref=Van Schreeven et al.}}

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.{{cite book| last1=Henning| first1= William| year=1821| title=Statutes at Large| publisher= University Press of Virginia | location = Richmond, Virginia | url=http://vagenweb.org/hening/vol08-27.htm |page= 549| ref=Henning}} 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.{{cite book | first = Gordon S. | last = Wood | title = The American Revolution: a history | publisher = Modern Library | year = 2002 | page = [https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti00gord/page/13 13] | isbn = 0-679-64057-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti00gord/page/13|ref=Wood }} 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

File:Germantown.jpg]]

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.{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Michael|title=Brandywine |location=El Dorado Hills, CA|publisher=Savas Beatie|year=2014|pages= preface, pg. 1|isbn=978-0-7884-0921-9}} 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

File:Interior HMS Jersey 1855.jpg

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.{{cite book |last=Ford |first=Paul |date= 2010|title=The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. II (in 12 Volumes): Correspondence 1771–1779, the Summary View, and the Declaration of Independence |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Iry86J8v01AC&pg=PA467 |page=467 |publisher=Cosimo |isbn=9781616401962|quote=Your situation indeed seems to have been better since you were sent to New York [City], but reflect on what you suffered before that and know others of your countrymen to suffer and what you know is now suffered by that more unhappy part of them who are still confined on board the prison ships of the enemy.}} 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;{{cite journal |last1=Gratz |first1=Simon |date=1903 |title=The Generals of the Continental Line in the Revolutionary War |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=385–403 (390) |jstor=20086102 }} 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.{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |date=2014 |title=The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783–1812: A Political, Social, and Military History (3 volumes) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sApvBAAAQBAJ&q=%22September+30,+1783%22+brevet&pg=PA973 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=973 |isbn=9781598841565}} Mathews was an Original Member of the Society of the Cincinnati.{{Cite book|last=Metcalf|first=Bryce|title=Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783-1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies|publisher=Shenandoah Publishing House|year=1938|location=Strasburg, VA|pages=211}}

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 {{convert|1,900|acre||adj=pre}} 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

On the strength of his military reputation, Mathews quickly ascended to the top of Georgia state politics. He was appointed a judge in Wilkes County, and a town commissioner for Washington, Georgia. Two years later, on January 2, 1787, he was elected a member of the Georgia General Assembly; three days after that, he was elected 20th governor of the state for a one-year term.Herndon, p. 322 Mathews's brief term as governor was a successful one; he attended the 1787 state convention in which he voted ratify the United States Constitution,Ebel and left with the state in a position of stability.Herndon, p. 324 He was then elected to the House of Representatives for the 1st United States Congress. His term in Congress has been called "lackluster," owing in part to his 'frontier sensibilities' that were out of place in Congress.Herndon, p. 324 He was defeated for reelection in 1791, and launched a failed bid for the United States Senate the following year. However, by 1793, he had regained enough support to again be chosen the 24th governor of the state.Ebel

His second administration was more tumultuous than his first. At this time, the State of Georgia struggled to defend its vast land claims in the western part of the state, and this led to notable controversies during Mathews's tenure.Lamplugh2 In February 1794, General Elijah Clarke, a popular veteran of the American Revolutionary War, illegally established the Trans-Oconee Republic as an independent state on western state hunting grounds reserved by the federal Treaty of New York (1790) for the Creek Indians.{{cite journal |last1=Kokomoor |first1=Kevin |title=Creeks, Federalists, and the Idea of Coexistence in the Early Republic |journal=Journal of Southern History |date=2015 |volume=81 |issue=4 |page=803 |url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aqh&AN=110844853&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=October 17, 2019}}Floyd President Washington pressured Mathews to remove Clarke and his settlers from the Creek lands, but Mathews initially ignored the pressure, sympathizing with Clarke's aim and being aware of Clarke's local popularity as a hero of the Revolution.{{cite book |last=Lamplugh |first=George |title=Politics on the Periphery: Factions and Parties in Georgia, 1783–1806 |year=1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pbbiqe9o0lEC&q=The+Georgia-Florida+Frontier,+1793-1796:+Spanish+Reaction+to+French+Intrigue+and+American+Designs |location=Newark |publisher= University of Delaware Press|pages=64–68 |isbn=9780874132885|ref=Lamplugh}} However, the tide of public opinion eventually changed,Floyd and in September, Mathews authorized 1200 Georgia militiamen, acting in conjunction with federal troops, to surround and isolate General Clarke's fortifications, leading to Clarke's surrender.FloydLamplugh, p. 64–68

Image:Yazoo-Georgia Controversy.png. Mathews's involvement in the scandal led to his political downfall.]]

The Georgia legislature sought to relieve its burden of its unprotected western lands by encouraging purchase offers from private land speculators.Lamplugh2 When representatives from four private groups sought to buy 35 million acres extending to the Mississippi River at less than two cents per acre, Mathews initially rejected the proposal.EbelLamplugh2{{cite news |url=https://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/history/article/revolution-early-republic-1776-1800/yazoo-land-fraud |title= Yazoo Land Fraud|newspaper=New Georgia Encyclopedia |publisher=Library of Georgia |access-date=April 17, 2020 |ref=GA Almanac}} However, the groups bribed many Georgia politicians to favor the bill, and this increased political pressure combined with waning popularity caused Mathews ultimately to accept and sign the Yazoo land bill.Ebel The public became outraged on learning the details of the bill, leading to protests to federal officials and Congressmen. Mathews, though he did not personally profit from the bill, became its public face.Herndon, p. 324 Jared Irwin and U.S. Senator James Jackson led the reform efforts. Irwin was elected governor of Georgia to replace Mathews, and on February 13, 1796, less than two months after taking office, he signed a bill nullifying the Yazoo Act.Lamplugh2

Mathews never again held a public office. He thought for a time about leaving the United States, and even wrote to George Washington asking for a character recommendation in preparation for his removal from the country, to which Washington obliged.Herndon, p. 324 However, in 1797, Mathews, who had by this time remarried again to Mary Carpenter, instead turned to the Mississippi Territory, where his wife owned property.Herndon, p. 326{{cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=Terry |title=Richard Carpenter, Pioneer Merchant of British West Florida and the Natchez District of Spanish West Florida |journal= The National Genealogical Society Quarterly|volume= 72|issue=1 |pages=51–62|date=March 1984 }} Mathews again returned to land speculation, buying stock in a land company the claimant of extensive acreage in the territory. He also lobbied friends in Congress for a political appointment in the territory.Herndon, p. 325

In 1798, he was appointed the first governor of the Mississippi Territory by President John Adams. However, Secretary of War James McHenry objected to the appointment, citing Mathews's financial stake in the territory. When Adams withdrew the nomination, Mathews was reported to have responded: "Sir, if you had known me, you wouldn't have taken the nomination back; if you didn't know me, you should not have nominated me to such an important office."Patrick, p. 7

{{main|Patriot War (Florida)}}

File:1806 Cary Map of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee - Geographicus - NCSCGAFL-cary-1806.jpg map illustrates Spain's provinces of West Florida and East Florida.]]

In November 1810, George Mathews learned from West Florida Governor Don Vicente Folch that Folch might be willing to peacefully transfer West Florida to the United States, on account of the weakening of the Spanish monarchy due to its involvement in the Napoleonic Wars.Cusick, p. 30 Mathews brought this to the attention of President James Madison, who wished to build on the expansionist policies of his predecessor, Thomas Jefferson. Madison, with ambitions raised, determined to annex both West and East Florida all at once.Cusick, p. 29

Madison and Mathews met in Washington, D.C., in January 1811, to discuss strategy for carrying out the annexation. Madison gave Mathews "remarkably vague and general"Knott, p. 96 directions to incite a rebellion among Spanish subjects, if necessary, and in turn to accept any territories controlled by these rebel forces into the domain of the United States.Cusick, p. 29 Neither men took any notes about this meeting, with even the specific day of the meeting still unknown.Cusick, p. 30 Madison formally assigned Mathews and Indian agent John McKee as secret agents soon after, and they promptly headed south.Knott, p. 96Cusick, p. 30

Mathews and McKee created an intelligence network throughout East Florida, with Mathews writing to Secretary of State James Monroe frequently. Monroe in turn encouraged Mathews to continue so long as the opportunity remained realistic.Knott, p. 98 Over the weeks, however, Mathews would write many letters to Monroe that would receive no reply. Though unsettled, Mathews viewed this as an implicit endorsement of his plan, assuming the Madison administration was acting discreetly and desiring not to leave evidence of U.S. involvement.Knott, p. 99–100Cusick, p. 73 However, Madison historian J.C.A. Stagg suggests that the Madison administration followed an informal practice in which "silence implied not consent but its opposite." This practice, which the administration did not explain, resulted in several misunderstandings with high-level officials throughout the Madison administration.{{cite journal |last1=Stagg |first1=J.C.A. |date=2006 |title=James Madison and George Mathews: The East Florida Revolution of 1812 Reconsidered |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=23–55 (46–47) |doi= 10.1111/j.1467-7709.2006.00536.x|jstor=24915034 }}

Mathews became infected with malaria in the summer of 1811, and for weeks was beset to his house at St. Mary's, Georgia on the border of Georgia and Florida.Cusick, p. 57 Nevertheless, he wrote to Monroe in August 1811, stating his readiness to outfit a rebel force, and requesting supplies.Knott, p. 98 Mathews' plans were leaked to Spanish authorities late in the summer, and the Spanish government wrote to Monroe urging him to disavow Mathews' actions and place him in arrest. Monroe instead responded with justifications for American rights to East Florida, arguing "the United States should have seized on that country [East Florida] long ago" as collateral from unpaid debts from Spain to the U.S. He took the further step to publish this rationale in an official Madison administration newspaper.Cusick, p. 72–73

File:East Florida Patriot Flag.svg

This confirmed to Mathews the Madison administration's support of his plans in lieu of direct correspondence, and additionally proved beneficial to his recruiting efforts. By the end of 1811, he had filled leadership positions for his rebellion with wealthy Spanish planters and businessmen.Cusick, p. 76 Still, he had not found enough local interest to fill out a fighting force. Mathews therefore turned to the recruitment of volunteers from Georgia to play the part of his rebel Patriots.Knott, p. 100 By early 1812, Mathews' Patriots numbered about 125. To bolster his force, Mathews worked out a plan for 75 U.S. troops at the border to desert the U.S. army and enlist as Patriots, while Mathews would subsequently ensure their pardon and restoration to their prior military rank at the end of the mission.Cusick, p. 84 However, days before the Patriots were to cross into Florida, Major Jacint Laval—Mathews' housemate in St. Mary's -- discovered Mathews's plan to lure men of his division into desertion, and objected, raising alarm.Cusick, p. 86–87 Mathews then knew he did not have the numbers needed to take St. Augustine. Fearing his window for a surprise attack was closing, he turned his attention to the lightly guarded city of Fernandina on Amelia Island, just across the river from St. Mary's.Cusick, p. 91–92 He would take Fernandina, call in U.S. troops, and move to St. Augustine from there.Knott, p. 100

On the night of March 13, 1812, Mathews, with his Patriots and support from nine U.S. Navy gunboats, entered Florida, and quickly seized rural lands off the coast of Amelia Island. A rash of fighters defected to the Patriots, bringing their numbers to about 250, with about 59 being Spanish subjects.Cusick, p. 113 Mathews then began negotiations with Don Justo Lopez, commandant of the fort at Fernandina, for the surrender of the city. The Patriots gained control of Fernandina on March 16, without a shot fired.Patrick, p. 83–98 The Patriots raised a new flag of East Florida designed by a member of Mathews' staff, held the territory for 24 hours, and then turned it over to the United States.Cusick, p. 118 Mathews wrote to Madison of the mission's success, while also requesting additional U.S. military personnel in acknowledgment of the difficulty he had faced in galvanizing local support.{{cite book|title=The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 4, 5 November 1811–9 July 1812 and supplement 5 March 1809–19 October 1811|date=1999|publisher=University Press of Virginia|location=Charlottesville|pages=326|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-04-02-0341|access-date=May 13, 2016}} Mathews also revealed to Madison his intention to similarly overthrow Spanish rule of the cities of Mobile and Pensacola in West Florida.Stagg, p. 292

By late 1811, James Madison had become convinced of the inevitability of war with Great Britain on the Canadian border (he would officially declare war with Britain in June 1812, setting off the War of 1812{{cite news |last=Woodworth |first=Samuel |title=The War |date=July 4, 1812 |url=https://archive.org/details/warv1n2wood/page/1 |newspaper=The War |via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 8, 2019 |location=New York |publisher=S. Woodworth & Co.}}).Cusick, p. 72 On learning of Mathews' request for further U.S. military support in Florida, as well as Spain's outrage towards the mission, Madison worried about the possibility of provoking Spain and its allies, the British, to join forces against the U.S.{{cite web|last1=Monroe|first1=James|title=[Letter] 1812 Oct. 13, Department of State, [Washington, D.C., to] David B. Mitchell / Ja[me]s Monroe|url=http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:krc128|website=Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730–1842|publisher=Digital Library of Georgia|access-date=May 31, 2016}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}Knott, p. 102 Further, a scandal had broken in national newspapers about Madison's purchase of dirt on political opponents from a British secret agent in New England mere days before the news of Mathews' seizure of Fernandina broke in the papers.Cusick, p. 135–136 While Monroe in particular admitted "much cleverness" in Mathews's plan, and hoped to salvage his efforts, he and Madison agreed that the political costs of publicly supporting Mathews at present were too high.Cusick, p. 138–139 Madison publicly repudiated Mathews, relieving him of duty on April 4, 1812.Knott, p. 102 Madison then assigned Georgia Governor David Mitchell as his new special agent in East Florida, tasked with keeping Mathews' Patriot army intact and preserving its military occupations.Knott, p. 102 Mitchell quickly informed East Florida Governor Juan José de Estrada that any attempt to drive out the Patriots would not be tolerated by the United States.Knott, p. 102

Mathews, furious with the Madison administration's repudiation, set off to Washington, D.C., where he'd "be damned if [he] didn't blow them all up."Herndon, p. 328 However, on the way he suffered from a recurrent malarial fever and was forced to stop in Augusta, Georgia. He died there on his 73rd birthday, and is buried in Saint Paul's Church.Herndon, p. 328

Historians have been divided over the legacy of the Patriot War of East Florida. Some conclude that Mathews overstepped his authority and deliberately departed from Madison's intentions,Stagg while others believe Mathews fulfilled Madison's intentions, and that Madison repudiated Mathews for political reasons.Owsley, p. 68Herndon, p. 327Cosick, p. 141 These differences in analysis are exacerbated by the fact that Madison and Mathews left no notes of their meeting to discuss the campaign.Cusick, p. 30

J.C.A. Stagg, in George Mathews and John McKee, Revolutionizing East Florida, Mobile, and Pensacola in 1812 (2007), states, "[i]t is now reasonably clear that the actions of Mathews and McKee in Florida and on the Gulf Coast between 1810 and 1812 departed far more from the policies of the [Madison] administration than they fairly reflected them,"{{cite journal |last1=Stagg |first1=J.C.A. |date=2007 |title=George Mathews and John McKee, Revolutionizing East Florida, Mobile, and Pensacola in 1812 |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=85 |issue=3 |pages=269–296 |jstor=30150062 |ref=Stagg}} and additionally deems the Patriot War, "an embarrassing and shameful moment in the history of early American foreign policy."{{cite journal|last1=Stagg|first1=J. C. A.|title=James Madison and George Mathews: The East Florida Revolution of 1812 Reconsidered|journal=Diplomatic History|date=2006|volume=30|issue=1|page=23|doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.2006.00536.x}}

However, James G. Cusick, in The Other War of 1812 (2007), states, "[i]n truth, the administration's displeasure over an attack on East Florida rested on its timing and in the unfortunate publicity it received, not on the results."Cusick, p. 141 G. Melvin Herndon draws a similar conclusion. In George Mathews, Frontier Patriot (1969), he states, "[i]t is generally agreed that Mathews was the victim of a vacillating administration whose dictates he had served faithfully according to his own lights. He succeeded too well; and, under pressure from several sources, President Madison and Secretary Monroe deemed it necessary to sacrifice Mathews to quell the criticism of their Florida policy.{{cite journal |last1= Herndon|first1=G. Melvin |date=1969 |title=George Mathews, Frontier Patriot |journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=77 |issue=3|pages=327 |ref=Herndon |jstor=4247487 }} Similarly, Frank Owsley, in Filibusters and Expansionists: Jeffersonian Manifest Destiny, 1800-1821 states, "Mathews probably interpreted Madison's wishes accurately, and very likely had oral instructions from the government assuring him that his understanding of the orders was absolutely correct."{{cite book|first=Frank|last=Owsley|title=Filibusters and Expansionists: Jeffersonian Manifest Destiny, 1800-1821|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyXLbeELGv8C|year=1997|publisher=University of Alabama Press|page=68|isbn=9780817308803 |ref=Owsley}}

Paul Kruse, in A Secret Agent in East Florida: General George Mathews and the Patriot War (1952) observes that whatever Mathews' instructions, a letter from Mathews to Monroe, "written more than seven months before the invasion was actually attempted, fully disclosed General Mathews' revolutionary designs upon East Florida. Not to have checked the plan on such a notice made the government a party to them."{{cite journal |last1=Kruse |first1=Paul |title=A Secret Agent in East Florida: General George Mathews and the Patriot War |journal= The Journal of Southern History|year=1952 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=205 |doi= 10.2307/2954272|jstor=2954272 }} Stephen F. Knott, in Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency (1996) states: "I believe Mathews' admission that he could not achieve the seizure of East Florida without additional overt American military support pushed the administration over the edge. Months of silent acquiescence by the Madison White House came to an end."Knott, p. 101

Rembert Patrick describes his appearance during an 1811 meeting with James Madison as thus:

:In one hand he held his old three-cornered cocked hat; he had on worn knee breeches, high-topped boots, and a shirt with little ruffles at the bosom and wrists. A sword, the symbol of his military valor, dangled at his side. He was short, thick-set, with stout muscular legs; he stood straight with his head thrown back, his red hair wind-blown, and his dark blue eyes framed by a weathered face.Patrick, p. 8

Several historical markers in the United States are dedicated to George Mathews. The Battle of Point Pleasant monument and memorial in Mason County, West Virginia, lists him as a captain in the army of General Andrew Lewis.{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=22553 |title=The Battle of Point Pleasant The Chief Event of Lord Dunmore's War: Point Pleasant Battle Monument |last=Bennington |first=Dale |date=2009 |website=The Historical Marker Database |publisher=HMdb.org LLC |access-date=April 25, 2020 }} A marker stands at sight of his Georgia home, "Goose Pond", in Oglethorpe County, Georgia.{{cite web |url=https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ghm_governor-mathews-homesite |title=Governor Mathews' Homesite historical marker |last=Seibert |first=David |date=2014 |website=The Digital Library of Georgia |access-date=April 25, 2020 }} Another marker, in Greene County, Georgia, stands at the sight of Fort Mathews, an outpost where Thomas Houghton wrote the report to George Mathews that led to the fall of the Trans-Oconee Republic.{{cite web |url=https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/fort-mathews/ |title=Fort Mathews|date=2015|website=The Georgia Historical Society |access-date=April 25, 2020 }} A marker in Elbert County, Georgia, acknowledges Mathews's role in settling of that county.{{cite web |url=https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/elbert-county/ |title=Elbert County |date=2015 |website=The Georgia Historical Society |access-date=April 25, 2020 }}

• Seminole Wars, has a short section on the Patriot War

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book| last=Chalkley | first=Lyman| year=1912 | title=Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia | publisher= The Commonwealth printing co | location = Rosslyn, Virginia | oclc = 2575649 | url= https://archive.org/details/chroniclesscotc00lockgoog/page/n6 | access-date=April 17, 2020 |ref=Chalkley }}
• {{cite book|last=Cusick|first=James G.|title=The Other War of 1812 : the Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida|year=2007|publisher=University of Georgia Press|location=Athens, Georgia|isbn=978-0820329215|ref=Cusick}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/george-mathews-1739-1812 |title=George Mathews (1739–1812) |last=Ebel |first= Carol|date=2003 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |publisher=Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press |access-date=April 17, 2020 |ref=Ebel}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/trans-oconee-republic |title=Trans-Oconee Republic |last=Floyd |first= Christopher|date=2005 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |publisher=Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press |access-date=April 17, 2020 |ref=Floyd}}
• {{cite journal |last1= Herndon|first1=G. Melvin |date=1969 |title=George Mathews, Frontier Patriot |journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=77 |issue=3|pages=307–328 |ref=Herndon |jstor=4247487 }}
• {{cite book|last=Knott|first=Stephen K. |title=Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgYxLklV7UwC&pg=PA93|year=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-510098-3|ref=Knott}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/yazoo-land-fraud |title=Yazoo Land Fraud |last=Lamplugh |first= George|date=2002 |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia |publisher=Georgia Humanities and the University of Georgia Press |access-date=April 17, 2020 |ref=Lamplugh2}}
• {{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=McCleskey |first=N. Turk |date=1990 |title= Across the first divide: Frontiers of settlement and culture in Augusta County, Virginia, 1738-1770 |publisher=College of William & Mary|doi=10.21220/s2-6p40-zt04 |url=https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-6p40-zt04|ref=McCleskey}}
• {{cite book |last= Patrick|first=Rembert |date= May 2010|title=Florida Fiasco: Rampant Rebels on the Georgia-Florida Border, 1810-1815 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JWc3cvE0Kk0C |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=978-0820335490|ref=Patrick}}

{{CongBio|M000234}}

Society of the Cincinnati

• [https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org American Revolution Institute]{{S-start}}

{{s-off}}

{{succession box

| before= Edward Telfair

| title= Governor of Georgia

| years= 1787–1788

| after= George Handley}}

{{s-par|us-hs}}

{{US House succession box

|state = Georgia

|district = 3

|before= New seat

|after= Francis Willis

|years=March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791

}}

{{s-off}}

{{succession box

| before= Edward Telfair

| title= Governor of Georgia

| years= 1793–1796

| after= Jared Irwin}}

{{S-end}}

{{Governors of Georgia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, George}}

Category:1739 births

Category:1812 deaths

Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent

Category:American pioneers

Category:18th-century American planters

Category:American filibusters (military)

Category:American militia officers

Category:American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain

Category:18th-century American merchants

Category:Continental Army officers from Virginia

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Federalists

Category:Governors of Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:House of Burgesses members

Category:Mathews family (Virginia and West Virginia)

Category:Members of the Georgia General Assembly

Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:People from Augusta County, Virginia

Category:People from Washington, Georgia

Category:People of Dunmore's War

Category:United States Army generals

Category:People from colonial Virginia

Category:Virginia sheriffs

Category:Federalist Party state governors of the United States

Category:18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:Candidates in the 1792 United States elections