William Dominick Matthews (October 25, 1829 – March 2, 1906) was an African-American abolitionist, Civil War Union officer and Freemason.

[3] When word came that a force of blacks was to be raised, Matthews along with New England abolitionist Ethan Earle wished to join the recruiting and be allowed to lead troops.

In August 1862, Senator James Henry Lane acquiesced and authorized Matthews to raise a company for the First Kansas Colored Volunteers and be its commander—and Matthews raised what would eventually be Company D. The regiment was originally mustered into the Kansas militia,[4] and before being mustered into service in the Union Army they engaged in the skirmish at Island Mound.

This skirmish was the first time a regiment of black troops saw combat in the Civil War and occurred five months before the famous 54th Infantry conflict at the Battle of Fort Wagner, in South Carolina.

[3] When the 1st Kansas Colored was mustered into the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation, Matthews and Minor were denied the chance to keep their rankings.

[10] Matthews and the battery were in Fort Scott during Price's Raid,[11] and local commander Colonel Charles W. Blair put Matthews in charge of enrolling "all able bodied colored men in Bourbon County" and assembling them at the fort to defend them from Price.

Matthews, Minor, and Captain H. Ford Douglas were the only black artillery officers in the Union army.

[13] He was a prominent participant in the Colored Conventions Movement[14] and in 1874 again was candidate for the state legislature, losing to H. D. Mackay in a controversial vote; his loss in both elections was ascribed in part to his failure to gain the support of white Republicans.

Matthews was a force with the organization of Freemasonry among African Americans in the central to western parts of the United States.