Matthew Caldwell, (March 8, 1798 – December 28, 1842), also spelled Mathew Caldwell was a 19th- century Texas settler, military figure, Captain of the Gonzales – Seguin Rangers and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Because of his recruitment ride ahead of the Battle of Gonzales, some have called him the Paul Revere of Texas.
Matthew Caldwell, nicknamed “Old Paint”, was born in Kentucky on March 8, 1798. He moved to Missouri with his family in 1818, where he traded, fought and learned the ways of the Indians. He, his wife, and family arrived in Texas in the Green DeWitt Colony on February 20, 1831. On June 22, 1831, he received the title to a parcel of land near the Zumwalt Settlement, southwest of current Hallettsville, Texas. Settling in Gonzales, Caldwell acquired the original James Hinds residence on Water Street and soon became a person of notoriety, involved in security and command of minutemen rangers in Gonzales and the surrounding areas.