During the American Revolution, he toured the western frontier to fortify the colonial border from Indian attacks, and oversaw sail manufacture for the Continental Navy's Virginia fleet.

When turncoat Benedict Arnold enacted a surprise raid on Richmond in January 1781, Mathews led Virginia militia forces in defense.

[11] For a time he worked as a reader for the Augusta Parish Anglican Church, though this was apparently suspended due to a thinning of the population following the French and Indian War.

[13] Mathews married Mary Lockhart in 1759,[14] with whom he had four children: John, Sampson, and two daughters who went on to be Mrs. Samuel Clark and Mrs. Alexander Nelson.

Quick success lead them to open numerous other stores and outposts in the Upper Valley, and to accumulate thousands of acres of land in the region.

[16] In their outposts they sold basic supplies but also specialty items including "spelling books, silk, hats, “ozgn”, handkerchiefs, silver, and even a tailor-made suit," and acted as unofficial bankers.

[17] Their enterprise grew to involve an extensive Atlantic trade network,[18] and included the buying and selling of convict servants from Britain,[19] and a small number of African slaves.

[32] Liberty Hall was eventually renamed Washington and Lee University,[33] and is the nation's ninth oldest institution of higher education.

[34] In the fall of 1774, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore assembled a 1000-man invasion of Indian territory, culling recruits from Augusta County.

All his baggage, his provisions, and even his ammunition, had to be transported on pack-horses, that were clambering about among tall cliffs, or winding their way among dangerous defiles, ascending or descending the lofty summits of the Alleghenies.

During nineteen entire days, this gallant band pressed forward descending from the height of the Allegheny mountains to the mouth of the Kenawha [sic], a distance of one hundred and sixty miles.

[37]October 10, 1774, The Battle of Point Pleasant was fought between the Virginia militia and Indians from the Shawnee and Mingo tribes along the Ohio River.

Various sources credit either Colonel Andrew Lewis or Captain George Mathews with a flanking maneuver that initiated Shawnee Chief Cornstalk's retreat and secured victory for the colonial militia.

Skilled sail-makers were probably drawn from the Ulster settlement in the Valley of Virginia, some of whose members had doubtless served an apprenticeship in Ireland.

At this time, Virginia had more land and manufactories devoted to naval purposes than any of the colonies, but it faced a distinct lack of materials needed to create linen sail cloth.

Mathews, along with Alexander St. Clair, was therefore appointed to erect and superintend a factory in Staunton, Virginia to make sail material from flax grown by Augusta County farmers.

In the fall of 1777, Shawnee Chief Cornstalk made a diplomatic visit to the American Fort Randolph, on the site present-day Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Congress, sensing the urgency of the situation, passed a resolution on November 20 to send commissioners out west with the aim of restoring friendly relations between the Shawnee and the colonists that had been years in the making.

The men arrived at Fort Pitt in mid-March, and reported back to Congress in late-April that the British in Detroit were aiding the Shawnee and nearby Delaware tribes in their attacks.

[59] Mathews called out the militia for a three month expedition in April 1779, on account of Indian threats in Tygart Valley, Virginia.

After spending an additional four days in Fredericksburg, Mathews was directed by Major General Peter Muhlenberg to turn to Bowling Green about 30 miles south.

Mathews wrote to Jefferson on the 29th that his march had been delayed at the James River for several days due to poor weather and insufficiency of the transport boats.

He described the lack of basic provisions in his camp, including tents and ammunition, and the poor health of many from exposure to the winter elements, which lead him to fear mutiny.

[73] Mathews, who remained a justice of the peace for Augusta County, administered the oath of office to Nelson the following week, on June 19.

[79] Mathews served a final term in the Virginia State Senate in 1790, representing Augusta, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, and Pendleton counties.