Shortly after the unexpected death in 1737 of her last surviving son, Mary married Jacob Mathews, an indentured servant of her late husband. A rowdy young man ten years her junior, he was appointed by Oglethorpe to command twenty rangers protecting Mount Venture against Spanish raids. Mary's ill-considered marriage to Mathews did not enhance her good standing with the colonists. His debauchery, coupled with his blatant leveraging of his wife's reputation to advance his schemes, won few friends and even less respect.

War with Spain seemed inevitable, and Mary was indispensable in the effort to rally support of the Indians and control the more impetuous among them. As hostilities commenced, she made numerous trips to Oglethorpe's headquarters at Fort Frederica. Although small in stature she played no small role in the ultimate defeat of the Spanish on St. Simons Island in 1742. Mary's friendship with the colonists during the hostilities, however, was not without cost. Her brother was killed fighting under the command of Oglethorpe, Mount Vernon was destroyed and, with her overseer away fighting the Spanish, The Cowpen fell into total ruin. Acknowledging her many contributions, a grateful James Oglethorpe gave Mary two hundred pounds and a diamond ring from his finger as he departed from Georgia in 1743, never to return again.

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