John Calvin Matthews (August 9, 1841 – September 25, 1927) was a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the April 2, 1865 Third Battle of Petersburg, Virginia.

Matthews joined as a Private in Company A, 135th Pennsylvania (Nine Month)[2] Volunteer Infantry on August 1, 1862, at age sixteen.

[3] He served on provost duty in Washington DC until February 1863 when the regiment joined the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps, Army of the Potomac at Falmouth, Virginia.

After eight months at home, almost six weeks shy of his eighteenth birthday, he reenlisted as a Corporal in Company A, 61st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry for a three-year term on 13 February 1864.

Now wearing the white Greek Cross of the 2nd Division of Sedgwick's VI Corps, he served in the 61st until the end of the war when he mustered out as a sergeant on June 28, 1865.

[1] Matthews' official Medal of Honor citation reads: The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Corporal John C. Matthews, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 April 1865, while serving with Company A, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry, in action at Petersburg, Virginia.