William D. Matthews
| William D. Matthews | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 25, 1829 Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | March 2, 1909 (aged 79) Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Sailor, Officer, Civil Rights Activist |
| Political party | Republican |
William Dominick Matthews (October 25, 1829 - March 2, 1906) was an African American abolitionist, Civil War Union officer and Freemason. He was leader in Leavenworth, Kansas as well as nationally.
Matthews was born October 25, 1829 on the Eastern shore of Maryland. William Dominick Matthews was born free to mixed-race parents. His father, Joseph, was a man of African descent who hailed from Delaware. His mother, the half-white slave daughter of a Frenchman, had gained her release from bondage upon her father’s death.Matthews moved to Baltimore in the late 1840s and worked as a sailor until 1854, when he purchased his own vessel and worked the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. But discriminatory laws limited his ability to make a living. He sold the boat and left Maryland.
Matthews moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1856. It was there that he opened the Waverly House, which served as a stage on the Underground Railroad. With the help of others including Daniel Read Anthony (brother of Susan B. Anthony), he helped many escape the yoke of Slavery.
Matthews served as superintendent of contrabands for the Kansas Emancipation League starting in 1862. The League was an outgrowth of a school established for fugitive blacks in 1861. 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. He was initially told that he would not be allowed to lead, and was offered a commission in the commissary or quartermaster department, but protested. 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, 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.
Matthews and his two lieutenants, Henry Copeland and Patrick Minor (Minor would die of disease during the war) were the highest ranked black officers in the regiment, but were denied commissions when the regiment became a part of the Federal Army. Both eventually were given commissions to serve in the Independent Kansas Colored Battery, where Matthews became commander of the Independent Kansas Colored Battery. 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. With the support of the regiment, including all of its white officers, the pair protested. On January 28, 1863, the War Department authorized the muster of Matthews as officer, which would make Matthews the first regularly commissioned black officer, but the order was not carried out and Matthews was not commissioned when the company mustered. With no official role in the regiment, Matthews was reported to have encouraged others to desert, and Andrew J. Armstrong replaced Matthews as captain of the company. In 1890, Williams testified that Matthews served in the organization and early drill of the company until May 1863. At an 1890 reunion of the First Kansas Infantry, Matthews was elected chairman of the gathering.
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