James Mathers - Sergeant at Arms of The Senate

Sergeant At Arms of The Senate

Three years later, as the Senate planned its first impeachment trial, members realized that they needed to have an officer with the police powers necessary to arrest those who refused to appear before that proceeding. One of the uncooperative parties was the target of the proceeding, former Tennessee Senator William Blount. From his home in Tennessee, Blount indicated he had no plans to attend his Senate trial. Wishing to return Blount by force, if necessary, the Senate, on February 5, 1798, created the office of sergeant at arms, modeled after a similar post in the House of Representatives and the British Parliament. The Senate added these new duties to those of Doorkeeper Mathers, expanding his title to "sergeant at arms and doorkeeper."

When Mathers failed in his efforts to return Blount to Philadelphia, the Senate proceeded without the former senator. At the trial, Mathers became the first Sergeant at Arms to issue the Senate's newly adopted proclamation: "All persons are commanded to keep silence while the Senate of the United States are receiving articles of impeachment against ______ on pain of imprisonment." In recognition of his added responsibilities, the Senate increased Mathers' pay to the equivalent of $800 per year. (Not until 1873 did the Senate's two principal officers receive approximately equal compensation.)

When the Senate moved to Washington D.C. in 1800, Mathers assisted with the shipment of its furnishings and papers. He helped establish the new quarters in the Senate's Capitol wing and remained on the job (and in his employers' good graces) until his death in 1811. In addition to being the Senate's first Sergeant at Arms, Mathers maintains the distinction of holding his post for more than twenty-two years. Although his immediate successor missed breaking that record by weeks, no Sergeant at Arms since the early nineteenth century has come close.

In 1811, Mathers tripped and fell down his cellar stairs, breaking an ankle; complications from the accident were fatal. A funeral procession through Washington, D.C., which included a Marine Corps honor guard, took place on September 5, 1811 and was attended by heads of government agencies, Revolutionary War veterans, and the city's "most respectable citizens."

Mathers' exact age was uncertain, although his guess was that he had been born about 67 years earlier.