Because he was father-in-law to Jane Austen's brother James, he is supposed to have inspired the character General Tilney in her novel Northanger Abbey.

[9] After the American victory at Trenton, the 1st Guards Battalion was assigned to Cornwallis for the Princeton Campaign in early January 1777.

[8] The grenadier and light companies of the Guards were in action at the Battle of Short Hills on 26 June 1777 where one of their officers was mortally wounded.

Because Sullivan was also the American right-wing commander, he left the Marylanders in charge of the senior officer, Brigadier General Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre.

[17] The evening before the Battle of Germantown on 4 October 1777, Howe alerted Osborn of a possible attack and ordered the Guard Brigade's grenadier and light companies to support the Queen's Rangers on the right flank.

The militia effort quickly collapsed, allowing the British to wheel to their left to outflank a brigade of Connecticut continentals.

[19] During the Battle of White Marsh in December 1777, the Guards light company under Captain Twistleton fought with the army's vanguard at Edge Hill.

[21] Trelawny was wounded and about 40 casualties were inflicted when some of Anthony Wayne's troops under Lieutenant Colonels Walter Stewart and Nathaniel Ramsey fired on the Guards while concealed in a wood.

Under Commodore Sir George Collier and Mathew, the force sailed from New York City on 5 May and reached Hampton Roads four days later.

[23] When the expedition approached Fort Nelson near Norfolk, Virginia, its 100-man American garrison under Major Thomas Matthews immediately decamped and retreated toward the Great Dismal Swamp.

Besides seizing enormous amounts of tobacco, naval cannons, and marine supplies, the British burned or captured 137 ships.

[23] The Guards Brigade joined Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen's 5,000 raid on New Jersey on 7 June 1780.

Colonel Israel Angell's 2nd Rhode Island Regiment held back Knyphausen's column for 40 minutes as Brigadier General William Maxwell and Major Light Horse Harry Lee delayed Mathew's envelopment.

At length, Major General Nathanael Greene had to commit additional troops to block Mathew's turning movement.

At the end of the conflict, the island was restored to Great Britain and its new governor Mathew reported that the local fortifications on Richmond Hill were in a "ruinous condition".

The old French fortifications were completely replaced by new works called Forts Frederick, Adolphus, Lucas, and Mathew.

Much of the construction labor was performed by the 300-strong Carolina Corps, a military unit formed from African-American slaves freed and recruited by the British army.

Though Mathew helped support the couple who lived on James' £300 yearly wage as a clergyman, the two ran through their funds quickly.