Individual Details
John Fraser Mathewes
(20 Mar 1824 - 19 Jan 1876)
See Letters of Ancestors for several from Fraser to William Raven, his brother.
August 4, 1863 "Affair of Pickets at Vincent's Creek"
"The enemy, having established annoying picket-guard at an unfinished battery at the mouth of Vincent's Creek, he was attacked at about nine o'clock p.m.(August 4th-date error) byu a party from the navy and from the Twenty-fifth south Carolina volunteers, under Lieutenant commanding A.F. Warley of the Confederate State steamer Chicora, Captain M.H. Sellers commanding the land force. The party proceeded in four boats, guided by Mr. J. Fraser Mathewes, to the northern entrance of Lighthouse
Creek , where Captain Sellers landed and proceeded against the enemy's picket. Lieutenant Warley
(and Lieutenant John Payne) with two boats, went round to the mouth of Vincent's Creek to cut off the enemy's barges. A brisk skirmish ensued, which resulted in the capture of one boat, with one captain (Lewis S. Payne) and ten non-commissioned officers and privates of the enemy, of which the captain and four non-commissioned officers and privates were wounded, one mortally. The remainder of the enemy"s party were driven off in another boat under a heavy fire, which undoubtedly caused them some damage. On our side one private of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina Volunteers was killed." (Brigadier General Ribley Report of Operations - The Defense of Charleston Harbor, Johnson, p 114.
August, 1863 p 138-139 - Ibid
"As the guns of Sumter were becoming dismounted or disabled, sometimes at the rate of five or six aday, they would be more or less encumbered with the ruined masonry, the splintered woodwork of the carriages, and the heavy irons of the platforms. But, though often completely covered up on the dangerous crest of the shattered walls or protruding through the caving, treacherous slopes of the ruined casements, these guns, invaluable to the commanding general for the defense of the inner harbor, were never for a moment forgotten by him.As soon as the heavy firing of the first bombardment had slackened, General Beauregard made inquiry about them. Although it was thought at first to be impracticable to remove them under such difficulties, and a report from the artillerist was so made, yet the general commanding found in John Fraser Mathewes, assistant engineer, a man whose nerve, energy and perserverance proved equal to the task. On the night of August 27th he began operations with a gang of picked men, and before morning he had thrown down from the parapet, up a cushion of sandbags laid for the purpose on the berme at the water's edge, two of the heaviest guns in the fort, made ready thus to be removed on a float the next night. Difficulty seemed to him nothing but opportunity. The slippery footing, the crumbling masses beneath the monstrous gun, the labor necessary to raise it, often up the hill of ruins, before it could be prepared to take its plunge of thirty or forty feet down from the top of the wall to the sandbags placed to receive it, then the tedious work of moving the gun from the tide-washed rocks to the float rising and falling with the swell of the sea, --all these were obstacles overcome to the saving of the guns and to the honor of this determined man. Others, encouraged by his success, did as well afterward, but Mathewes began and continued for six months, at intervals, the rescue of these guns from the ruins of Fort Sumter. His merits were promptly recognized and commended in a special order from department headquarters. He was often assisted on the water by an officer and men of the naval force in the harbor. Upward of twenty-five guns and mortars were thus recovered"
Accident at Fort Sumter. 13 men killed of Washington Light Infantry, among them Mr. Mathewes (Defense of Chas. Harbor by Dr. John Johnson, p 172) (which Mathewes?) (Recovery of guns under assistant engineer, J. Fraser Mathewes (ibid, appendix XII)
Report of Col Keitt - thanks are due Mr. J.F. Mathewes, engineer corps, for use of boat and crew for moving troops. (ibid, Appendix CXXI)
January 23, 1866 - Contract between J. Fraser Mathewes and the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands for the restoration of his plantation, Ravenswood, on the South Edisto - copy of document in BLB files.
[from Coasts of SC,GA, and mid east FL, chap XXVI, p 959
Charleston, May 26, 1863
Maj. W.H. Echols
Chief Engineer, South Carolina
MAJOR: In reply to so much of Brig. Gen. R.S. Ribley's communication, dated 24th instant, to Brig. Gen. Thomas Jordan, relative to the battery erecting on the marsh of Vincent's Creek, I have the honor to report that the work complained of is necessarily slow and tedious from the following causes, viz: During the first five weeks after I commenced the work the health of hte hands employed was so bad, (they being from the upper districts and not accustomed to working in mud and water and the change of climate and diet) that the working force did not average daily more than 20 out of 100 hands, then under my charge. The negroes can only work from half ebbtide to half of the next flood tide, making an average of about seven hours' work each day. The tide overflows the marsh during the rest of the time, making it impossible to proceed. The material piled up and complained of as not efficient for an epaulement is the only matrial except mud afforded at that place for any other around short of Morris Island, and though intended to be used for the battery with some modifications, was not expecially collected for that purpose, it being simply the natural soil thrown up in the necessary process of digging the bed to float in the hulk intended to be used as a foundation for the battery erecting. I would also state that in consequence of the limited supply of negro labor furnished by the State, I have only 62 hands at work on the battery, which for the speedy completion of the work is altogether insufficient.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
J FRASER MATHEWES,
In Charge
August 4, 1863 "Affair of Pickets at Vincent's Creek"
"The enemy, having established annoying picket-guard at an unfinished battery at the mouth of Vincent's Creek, he was attacked at about nine o'clock p.m.(August 4th-date error) byu a party from the navy and from the Twenty-fifth south Carolina volunteers, under Lieutenant commanding A.F. Warley of the Confederate State steamer Chicora, Captain M.H. Sellers commanding the land force. The party proceeded in four boats, guided by Mr. J. Fraser Mathewes, to the northern entrance of Lighthouse
Creek , where Captain Sellers landed and proceeded against the enemy's picket. Lieutenant Warley
(and Lieutenant John Payne) with two boats, went round to the mouth of Vincent's Creek to cut off the enemy's barges. A brisk skirmish ensued, which resulted in the capture of one boat, with one captain (Lewis S. Payne) and ten non-commissioned officers and privates of the enemy, of which the captain and four non-commissioned officers and privates were wounded, one mortally. The remainder of the enemy"s party were driven off in another boat under a heavy fire, which undoubtedly caused them some damage. On our side one private of the Twenty-fifth South Carolina Volunteers was killed." (Brigadier General Ribley Report of Operations - The Defense of Charleston Harbor, Johnson, p 114.
August, 1863 p 138-139 - Ibid
"As the guns of Sumter were becoming dismounted or disabled, sometimes at the rate of five or six aday, they would be more or less encumbered with the ruined masonry, the splintered woodwork of the carriages, and the heavy irons of the platforms. But, though often completely covered up on the dangerous crest of the shattered walls or protruding through the caving, treacherous slopes of the ruined casements, these guns, invaluable to the commanding general for the defense of the inner harbor, were never for a moment forgotten by him.As soon as the heavy firing of the first bombardment had slackened, General Beauregard made inquiry about them. Although it was thought at first to be impracticable to remove them under such difficulties, and a report from the artillerist was so made, yet the general commanding found in John Fraser Mathewes, assistant engineer, a man whose nerve, energy and perserverance proved equal to the task. On the night of August 27th he began operations with a gang of picked men, and before morning he had thrown down from the parapet, up a cushion of sandbags laid for the purpose on the berme at the water's edge, two of the heaviest guns in the fort, made ready thus to be removed on a float the next night. Difficulty seemed to him nothing but opportunity. The slippery footing, the crumbling masses beneath the monstrous gun, the labor necessary to raise it, often up the hill of ruins, before it could be prepared to take its plunge of thirty or forty feet down from the top of the wall to the sandbags placed to receive it, then the tedious work of moving the gun from the tide-washed rocks to the float rising and falling with the swell of the sea, --all these were obstacles overcome to the saving of the guns and to the honor of this determined man. Others, encouraged by his success, did as well afterward, but Mathewes began and continued for six months, at intervals, the rescue of these guns from the ruins of Fort Sumter. His merits were promptly recognized and commended in a special order from department headquarters. He was often assisted on the water by an officer and men of the naval force in the harbor. Upward of twenty-five guns and mortars were thus recovered"
Accident at Fort Sumter. 13 men killed of Washington Light Infantry, among them Mr. Mathewes (Defense of Chas. Harbor by Dr. John Johnson, p 172) (which Mathewes?) (Recovery of guns under assistant engineer, J. Fraser Mathewes (ibid, appendix XII)
Report of Col Keitt - thanks are due Mr. J.F. Mathewes, engineer corps, for use of boat and crew for moving troops. (ibid, Appendix CXXI)
January 23, 1866 - Contract between J. Fraser Mathewes and the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands for the restoration of his plantation, Ravenswood, on the South Edisto - copy of document in BLB files.
[from Coasts of SC,GA, and mid east FL, chap XXVI, p 959
Charleston, May 26, 1863
Maj. W.H. Echols
Chief Engineer, South Carolina
MAJOR: In reply to so much of Brig. Gen. R.S. Ribley's communication, dated 24th instant, to Brig. Gen. Thomas Jordan, relative to the battery erecting on the marsh of Vincent's Creek, I have the honor to report that the work complained of is necessarily slow and tedious from the following causes, viz: During the first five weeks after I commenced the work the health of hte hands employed was so bad, (they being from the upper districts and not accustomed to working in mud and water and the change of climate and diet) that the working force did not average daily more than 20 out of 100 hands, then under my charge. The negroes can only work from half ebbtide to half of the next flood tide, making an average of about seven hours' work each day. The tide overflows the marsh during the rest of the time, making it impossible to proceed. The material piled up and complained of as not efficient for an epaulement is the only matrial except mud afforded at that place for any other around short of Morris Island, and though intended to be used for the battery with some modifications, was not expecially collected for that purpose, it being simply the natural soil thrown up in the necessary process of digging the bed to float in the hulk intended to be used as a foundation for the battery erecting. I would also state that in consequence of the limited supply of negro labor furnished by the State, I have only 62 hands at work on the battery, which for the speedy completion of the work is altogether insufficient.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
J FRASER MATHEWES,
In Charge
Events
| Birth | 20 Mar 1824 | South Carolina, United States |  | ||
| Marriage | Abt 1850 | Ann McPherson Creighton | |||
| Census (family) | 1860 | 1st Ward, Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, United States - Ann McPherson Creighton |  | ||
| Death | 19 Jan 1876 | Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, United States | | ||
| Burial | Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, United States | |
Families
| Spouse | Ann McPherson Creighton (1828 - 1870) |
| Father | John Raven Mathewes "the Elder" (1788 - 1867) |
| Mother | Eliza Caroline Jenkins (1787 - 1860) |
| Sibling | Dr. Isaac Holmes Mathews (1807 - 1857) |
| Sibling | Christopher James Mathewes (1808 - ) |
| Sibling | Mary Wilkinson Mathews (1809 - 1870) |
| Sibling | Capt Edward Wilkinson Mathewes (1810 - 1853) |
| Sibling | Eliza Ann Mathewes (1812 - 1838) |
| Sibling | Susan Smith Mathewes (1814 - 1830) |
| Sibling | Martha Jenkins Mathewes (1818 - 1883) |
| Sibling | Harriet Emma Mathewes (1820 - 1889) |
| Sibling | Georgeann Mathewes (1821 - 1824) |
| Sibling | Anna Maria Mathewes (1823 - 1869) |
| Sibling | William Seabrook Mathewes (1826 - 1827) |
| Sibling | George Augustus Mathewes (1827 - 1871) |
| Sibling | Christopher Mathewes ( - ) |
| Sibling | William Raven Mathewes (1829 - 1905) |
| Sibling | John Raven Mathewes (1836 - 1837) |
Notes
Census (family)
J Fraser Mathewes M 36 South CarolinaAnn Mathewes F 31 South Carolina
Ann Mathewes F 9 South Carolina
John R Mathewes M 7 South Carolina
James C Mathewes M 5 South Carolina
Edith Mathewes F 3 South Carolina
Endnotes
1. Jean Ann Lemon, "Descendants of Anthony Mathewes," complied records from
2. Jean Ann Lemon, "Descendants of Anthony Mathewes," complied records from
3. Jean Ann Lemon, "Descendants of Anthony Mathewes," complied records from