458 OGLETHORPE COUNTY. 



called the Goose Pond, on Broad river, and removed to it with 

 his family in 1785. His high reputation in the late war made 

 him at once the principal man in Georgia. In 1786 he was 

 elected Governor. He was the first representative of the 

 people of Georgia in the Congress of the United States, under 

 the present Constitution. He was again Governor of Georgia 

 in 1794 and 1795. In 1811 a class of men who called them- 

 selves patriots, obtained the ascendency in Florida. These 

 men threw off the Spanish yoke, and declared themselves free 

 to do what they pleased. They petitioned the United States 

 to make Florida a portion of its territory, and Gov. Matthews 

 was appointed agent to negotiate with the constituted authori- 

 ties of Florida for the annexation of the country to the 

 United States. Governor Matthews made a treaty, which was, 

 however, strongly remonstrated against by the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment, and finally disavowed by the President, Mr. Madison, 

 as not having been made with the constituted authorities of 

 Florida, according to the terms of Gov. Matthews' instructions. 

 The disavowal of Mr. Madison enraged Gov. Mathews to 

 such a degree, that it is said he started for Washington to sub- 

 ject Mr. Madison to personal chastisement. He swore that 

 he would expose the whole afiair to the world. His high 

 state of excitement, added to the fatigue and exposure he had 

 undergone, brought on a fever whilst on his way to Washing- 

 ton to execute his threat, and of which he died in Augusta, 

 Georgia, March, 1812. 



Gov. Matthews was a short, thick man, with stout legs, 

 on which he stood very straight. He carried his head rather 

 thrown back. His features were full, his hair light, and his 

 complexion fair and florid. His looks indicated a perfect free- 

 dom from fear, and he felt himself equal to any man. He ad- 

 mitted no superior but George Washington. He spoke of his 

 services to the country as unsurpassed, except by this great 

 chief. His dress was in unison with his looks and conversa- 

 tion. He wore a three-cornered cocked hat, fair-top boots, a 

 shirt full ruffled in front and at the wrists, and occasionally 

 a long sword at his side. It was during Gov. Mat- 

 thews' second term of service as the Chief Magistrate of Geor- 

 gia, that the land speculators, after many years of effort, sue- 



