sed to give way before the most
stubborn attacks of the Virginians. Near sundown, Matthews, with two
other captains, made a strategic movement. The three companies were
withdrawn from the battle. Out of sight of the enemy, they got into the
bed of a creek. Hidden by the banks of the stream, they marched to the
rear of the Indians, and from this point made an attack. The movement
had been so cleverly carried out, that the savages were taken completely
by surprise, and driven across the Ohio.

Early in the Revolutionary War, General Washington, who knew well the
value of the training Matthews had received on the frontier, ordered him
and the regiment which he commanded to join the main army. He took part
in the battle of the Brandywine; and at the battle of Germantown he
led his regiment against the British opposing him, drove them back, and
pushed on to the center of the town, where he captured a regiment of the
enemy. Shortly after this, while engaged in a skirmish, his courage led
him too close to the British. He was knocked down, severely wounded by
a bayonet thrust, and taken prisoner. He was sent to the British prison
ship in New York Harbor. He was there treated with so much cruelty that
he appealed to his government for relief. In response to that appeal,
Thomas Jefferson, who was then governor of Virginia, wrote him a
personal letter, in which he said, "We know that the ardent spirit and
hatred of tyranny which brought you into your present situation
will enable you to bear up against it with the firmness which has
distinguished you as a soldier, and look forward with pleasure to the
day when events shall take place against which the wounded spirit of
your enemies will find no comfort, even from reflections on the most
refined of the cruelties with which they have glutted themselves."

General Matthews was not exchanged until the close of the war. He then
joined the Southern army under General Greene, and commanded the Third
Virginia Regiment. While in the South, he bought a tract of land on
Broad River, known as the Goose Pond. He settled there with his family
in 1784. The fame he had won as a soldier made General Matthews at that
time the principal man in Georgia. He was elected governor in 1786. When
his term expired, he was sent to Congress. In 1794-95 he was again made
governor; and it was at this time, that, contrary to all expectations,
he was prevailed on to sign the Yazoo Act. No charge of corruption was