Sampson Mathews

Sampson Mathews
Silhouette of Sampson Mathews, 1756
Virginia State Senate from Augusta, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, and Pendleton counties
In office 1776-1781, 1790-1792
Personal details
Born	c. 1737 Augusta County, Virginia
Died	January 20, 1807 Staunton, Virginia
Spouse(s)	Mary Lockhart
Relations	Mathews family
Profession	politician, soldier, lawyer
Military service
Allegiance	Great Britain United States
Service/branch	Virginia provincial militia
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel of Virginia provincial militia
Battles/wars	French and Indian War  • Braddock expedition Dunmore's War  • Battle of Point Pleasant American Revolutionary War  • Raid of Richmond  • Siege of Yorktown

Sampson Mathews (c. 1737- January 20, 1807) was an 18th-century American soldier, legislator, and college founder in the colony (and later U.S. state) of Virginia.

As a soldier he participated in three wars. He served with George Washington in the Virginia provincial militia on Braddock's Expedition of the French and Indian War; he was commissary for Virginia militia in the Battle of Point Pleasant of Lord Dunmore's War; and he was lieutenant colonel of Virginia militia in the American Revolutionary War, leading the American defense against Benedict Arnold's January 1781 raid of Richmond and fighting at the decisive Siege of Yorktown.

In politics he was a member of the inaugural Virginia State Senate, of which body he was a member from 1776-1781 and 1790-1792, representing Augusta, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Shenandoah, and Pendleton counties. He toured the western frontier as a representative for the United States Congress to fortify the colonial border from Indian attacks, and he oversaw shipbuilding efforts for the Continental Navy's Virginia fleet at Warwick. He also helped found Liberty Hall (later Washington and Lee University), when it was made into a college in 1776.