John Allen Mathews (1809 - September 19, 1861) was an American frontiersman and slave owner who settled among the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

and later advocated and died for the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

Early life and family

John Allen Mathews was a native of

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

with

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

roots. Mathews worked as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

sent by the United States to work among Indian tribes to fulfil treaty obligations. He worked for the

Seneca tribe The Seneca ( ; ) are a group of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthe ...

in 1839 before being sent to work in the

in 1840. He was one of the first white people to settle in Labette County, Kansas and is one of the founders of

Oswego, Kansas Oswego is a city in and the county seat of Labette County, Kansas, United States, and situated along the Neosho River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,668. History Oswego is located on the site of an Osage village ca ...

. He arrived with a seven-year-old son and a

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and the Osage were generally disappointed that the three men represented the fulfillment of their treaty promise of a functioning blacksmith for the nation. He claimed 140-acre plot and imported slaves to build a large house, trading post, water well, blacksmith, stables, and

horse racing track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

. He married Mary Ann Williams, the daughter of William S. Williams and his Osage wife A-Ci'n-Ga, in the mid-1830s. The couple had two children, Sue and Aloysius Allen, before Mary's death in 1843. After her death, he married her sister Sarah Williams and they had four children (John, Janes, William Shirley Mathews, and Edward Martin) before her death in 1856. He gained a reputation as a fair trader among the Osage (rare for white traders in the era) and was a strong advocate for

slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865 ...

American Civil War and death

Mathews was a prominent figure in Southeast

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in the lead up to and during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. He was a pro-Confederate partisan and raider from 1856 on during

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

. In 1861, he was commissioned a

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

captain and led a meeting on June 4, 1861, to organize

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, Osage, and white people living in the area (then known as "the Neutral lands") to join the Confederacy. He organized and recruited heavily for Confederate partisans operating in Kansas. His recruiting included his son John Mathews Jr. He eventual led a raid on Father Schoenmakers and the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

run Osage Mission's post. Schoenmakers had educated Mathews children and was warned of the raid by William Shirley Mathews, saving the priests in the mission. He was killed in action by Pleasant Smith in a battle led by James G. Blunt on September 19, 1861.

References

Works cited

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, John Allen 1809 births 1861 deaths American blacksmiths Border ruffians Confederate States Army officers Confederate States of America military personnel killed in the American Civil War John Allen People of Kansas in the American Civil War Proslavery activists killed in the American Civil War Slave owners killed in the American Civil War