Henry M. Mathews | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 5th Governor of West Virginia | |
| In office March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881 | |
| Preceded by | John J. Jacob |
| Succeeded by | Jacob B. Jackson |
| 7th Attorney General of West Virginia | |
| In office 1873–1877 | |
| Governor | John J. Jacob |
| Preceded by | Joseph Sprigg |
| Succeeded by | Robert White |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 29, 1834 Frankford, Virginia (now West Virginia) |
| Died | April 28, 1884 (aged 50) Lewisburg, West Virginia |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Lucy Fry Mathews |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Mathews family |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia A.B. 1856 Washington and Lee School of Law B.L. 1857 |
| Profession | Politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States of America |
| Branch/service |  Confederate States Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1864 |
| Rank |  Major of Artillery 1863–1864 |
Henry Mason Mathews (March 29, 1834 – April 28, 1884) was an American military officer, lawyer, and politician in the U.S. State of West Virginia. Mathews served as 7th Attorney General of West Virginia (1873–1877) and 5th Governor of West Virginia (1877–1881), being the first former Confederate elected to the governorship in the state. Born into a Virginia political family, Mathews attended the University of Virginia and afterward practiced law before the outbreak of the American Civil War. When Virginia seceded from the United States, in 1861, he volunteered for the Confederate States Army and served in the western theater as a major of artillery. Following the war, Mathews was elected to the West Virginia Senate, but was denied the seat due to state restrictions on former Confederates. Mathews participated in the 1872 state constitutional convention that overturned these restrictions, and in that same year was elected attorney general of West Virginia. After one term, he was elected governor of West Virginia.
Mathews was identified as a Redeemer, the southern wing of the conservative, pro-business Bourbon faction of the Democratic Party that sought to oust the Radical Republicans who had come to power across the postwar South. However, Mathews took the uncommon practice of appointing members from both parties to important positions, causing his administration to be characterized as "an era of good feelings." He sought to attract industry to the state, and courted immigration. His administration faced challenges related to the Long Depression, most notably the outbreak of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, as a labor protest to wage cuts. After several failed attempts to quell the strike with state militia, Mathews called on President Rutherford B. Hayes for federal assistance, which brought national attention to the strike that spread to other states in what would be the first national labor strike in United States history. Mathews' handling of the strike, and his portrayal of the strikers, was criticized by labor activists at the time, and his calling for Federal assistance was questioned, though the involvement of the federal government in breaking up the strike has come to be seen as inevitable by modern historians. In later life, Mathews served as president of the White Sulphur Springs Company (now The Greenbrier resort).