Greenbrier County, West Virginia The Biography of Capt. J. W. MATHEWS The Biography of Capt. J. W. MATHEWS was submitted by Sandy Spradling, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm Source: History of Greenbrier County J.R. Cole Lewisburg, WV 1917 p. 74-78 CAPT. JACOB WARWICK MATHEWS. Capt. J. W. Mathews in some respects is a very remarkable man. As a soldier in the late war, and as a farmer and merchant, his career in life has been somewhat beyond the ordinary one. It has been made unique by his successful efforts, aided by an unconquerable will power, backed by an earnest, strenuous purpose that knew no defeat as long as he knew he was in the right. At the age of seventy-six years, he still goes his way, never having been in bed sick a day in his life and doing the work of a strong man not more than half his age. His prison life was sufficient of itself to undermine the constitution of any man, and detrimental enough to poison and destroy any mentality, but, in this case, the healthy body and the strong, pure mind obtained. Captain Mathews, son of Samuel G. and Naomi (Hudson) Mathews, was born in Pocahontas county, November 9, 1839. His mother was a descendant of Richard and Elizabeth Hudson, who came from Augusta county early in the century and settled in the woods on the headwaters of Sitlington's creek, on lands now held by their great-grandsons, Warwick B. and John L. Hudson. Seven daughters and three sons were horn to Mr. and Mrs. Hudson. Of these Sallie and Polly went to Ohio, married and settled in that State. (3) Keziah went west and his location is unknown to the writer. (4) Rachel married A. Dysard and lived in Barhours county. (5) Matilda married Thomas Humphreys (6) Naomi married Samuel G. Mathews and lived in Randolph county. Her children were M. G. Mathews, deceased, a teacher and superintendent of schools; Charles and Capt. J. W. Mathews. (7) Nancy Hudson first married John Seybert, of Highland county. Her second marriage was to Andrew Lockridge, of Bath county. (8) Thomas Hudson went to Missouri, married and set-tled there. (9) Madison Hudson went to Maryland and reared a large family. He was a merchant and a citizen of prominence. (10) Eliza married Margaret Deaver, daughter of James and Sally Deaver, who is believed to have been the first settlers of Back Alleghany county, Virginia. They went to housekeeping on the home place and were the parents of five daughters and eight sons. Elijah Hudson was a man of prominence in Pocahontas county. He was a very intelligent man, was a fine speaker, and served his county very faithfully and efficiently as a member of the State legislature. He was also a very prominent member of the county court and transacted considerable business for his neighbors, writing wills, deeds of conveyance and articles of agreement. He was endowed with natural abilities of a high order and he persistently made the most of his opportunities for intellectual improvement. During his life he taught many terms of schools in the old field school house for the benefit of his neighbors and for his own family. Capt. J. W. Mathews was born in Pocahontas county, West Virginia, November 9, 1839. At the age of seventeen he was elected second lieutenant of the Randolph militia and on May 18, 1861, he enlisted in Company I, Twenty-fifth Virginia infantry, as a private in the Confederate army. For meritorious service in the early part of 1862 be received commission of second lieutenant in the same company. During the war he participated in the battles of Philippi, June 3, 1866, McDowell, Front Royal, Middletown, Winchester, Cross Keys, Port Republic, in all the skirmishes in and around Winchester in the Shenandoah valley, and for gal-lantry on the field of Gettyburg, July, 1863, he received a captain's commission. He was also in the seven days fight around Richmond, Va., in 1862, in all the battles of The Wilderness, Virginia, Cedar Mountain, second battle of Manassas, Shantelly, Harper's Ferry, Sharpsburg, Maryland, Mine Run, Fredericksburg, Beverly, Buckhannon and Bristo Station. In all of those conflicts he was never sick nor wounded. At the battle of the Wilderness he was captured, and his whole regiment, at which time he was acting as lieutenant-colonel. That was on May 5, 1864. The prisoners were taken to Fort Delaware, and kept there until Au-gust 20, and then sent South as a retaliatory measure, but as the captain puts it: "For torture." The first eighteen days were a ride on the steamer, "Crescent," when they were packed around the boiler, in a heated room, with water from the condenser almost boiling hot to drink, and in this way they were taken to Morris Island, South Carolina. The Immortal Six Hundred was the title justly accorded the number who now was placed in a stockade between Battery Wagner and Battery Gregg and kept there forty-two days. These were two of the largest batteries of the Federal army at Moris Island, South Carolina. Here they were guarded by the Fifty-fourth (colored troops) regiment from Massachusetts, commanded by Colonel Hallowell, from Philadelphia, Pa., and "He was the meanest man" says Captain Mathews, "to whom God ever gave a soul." The rations per day allowed the prisoners consisted of four little crackers, condemned by the Government, and half eaten up by bugs and worms. For dinner they had bean soup to the amount of half a pint, consisting of water principally, with now and then a stray bean or two in the cup. For supper they had all the wind they could inhale. Under this kind of prison fare Captain Mathews lost during his imprisonment of seven months, sixty-five pounds, having been reduced from a normal weight of one hundred and sixty-five pounds to that of one hundred pounds. Out of the six hundred prisoners only three hundred survived, and they were only walking skeletons, sixty-five of them being so afflicted with the scurvy they could not walk. From Morris Island the prisoners were next taken to Fort Pulaski and kept there on a cold brick floor in a damp room, with-out fire or blanket, and for sixty-five days their rations were ten ounces of the rottenest corn meal in existence. The captain avers that out of the "Jo oz. meal" in one case more than one hundred and twenty-two worms and bugs were found by actual count. While the rotten corn meal apportioned out to them had been shipped south in 1861 and issued to Confederate prisoners of war in 1865, it had been condemned by Federal officers as not fit to isue to the Federal army. Captain Mathews says every one of those prisoners could have been released from that torture by taking the oath of allegiance to the Government, but only eighteen of them succumbed to the pressure. The captain further says that this bad fare was by order from Secretary Stanton, endorsed by Abraham Lincoln. The treatment was so bad that Colonel Brown, who was in command of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York regiment as a guard over the prisoners at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, took them out when he received this inhuman order and in a speech said he would not longer remain in command of the post, and have men under him suffering as he knew we would suffer, and as suffering could not be prevented bv him, he could not longer witness such distress among the men and would resign. In a land where there was plenty for all, the prisoners were entitled to the rights of humanity, but under the orders from headquarters he could not prevent the conditions of their sad lot and would resign his command. Following Colonel Brown came little General M~llino (some spell it Mullnix), whose treatment of the prisoners was very bad. Matters continued thus until the close of the war, when all the prisoners were paroled and sent home. After the war, Captain Mathews. without a dime in his pocket, began a business in life which has been very successful. He started out as a photographer, taking the whole of West Virginia for his field, and followed this until i868, when he married and went to farming. On May 7, j868, he was united in wedlock with Mary Elizabeth Hoylman, they taking up their residence in Greenbrier county. She was a daughter of George W. and Nancy A. (Fleshman) Hoylman. Their son. Charles Forest, was born in this district, September 27, 1873, and is their only child. Captain Mathews made his money principally buying and selling timber lands and dealing in cattle, horses and sheep. He owns a farm of two thousand acres of land and it is among the best in Greenbrier county. The house was erected by Col. Andrew Humphreys, father of Milton W. Humphreys, the mathematician, and in 1906 the captain enlarged the building to its present commodious size. In 1873 he started his store, and in addition to farming, has been engaged also along commercial lines. During his whole life, Captain Mathews has been a very busy man. His career has been a strenuous one and to the highest degree, not only as a farmer and a merchant, but he filled the office of postmaster ten or twelve years; was road commissioner for ahout twenty years, and was one of the best in Greenbrier county. In military matters he and Mrs. Mathews have ever beeii before the public. For the past four years the captain has filled the office of adjutant-general of the First West Virginia Brigade while he has been a delegate to all the Confederate reunions, not only in the State of West Virginia, but in all the other states; and ever since the beginning, Mrs. Mathews has always stood nobly by her husband, attending with him the meetings. no matter in what place or State they were held. She is very favorably and quite extensively known all through the South as a very great friend to all the old Confederate soldiers. She is now and has been matron of the Immortal Six Hundred since its organization. and is toasted and banqueted by the grand old heroes at all their National reunions.