Letters from William Waterhouse

For more information on the book, “Courage and Compassion: A Civil War Soldier Speaks,” visit www.ringgoround.com/About_Patda.html. To learn more about the Waterhouse Residence Museum, and all other Art & History Museums — Maitland programs and events, visit www.maitlandhistory.org

The man who carried the city of Maitland’s founding charter to Tallahassee in 1885 has found his voice once again in 2011.

Thirty years ago, Bob Peterson, the great-grandson of Maitland founding father Willliam Waterhouse, found a trunk full of letters and journals Waterhouse had penned during his time as a soldier in the Civil War in his family home.

"I didn't think much of it at the time," Peterson said, "until I started reading them."

What he had discovered, it turned out, were his great-grandfather's detailed firsthand accounts of what it was like to be a 5th Cavalry Union soldier in the Civil War as well as being held captive by the Confederate Army in the Andersonville prison in Sumter County, Ga.

It was there in Waterhouse's looping cursive and olde time English, tales of the 52 battles and 119 skirmishes he had fought were played out from 1861 to 1865, including Gettysburg.

For years after Peterson found them, the letters remained untouched. Until at his Winter Park High School reunion three and a half years ago he ran into his former classmate and author Patda Jim. He told her of the letters and she asked to see them right away.

"I had to see the letters to see if there was a story there," Jim said.

Little did she know, the next two and a half years of her life would be spent milling over those 42 letters and 32 journal pages to compile a narrative biography on William Waterhouse — "Courage and Compassion: A Civil War Soldier Speaks," released Oct. 27.

"For the past two and a half years I feel like I've been William Waterhouse," she said, "and now I'm finally ready to set him free."

Waterhouse legacy

William Waterhouse moved to Maitland in 1885. A craftsman and carpenter by trade, he built a house on Lake Lily for him and his family.

Bob Peterson moved to Maitland when he was 14 years old into the same home his great-grandfather had built.

In 1986, Tom Peterson, Bob's son, took over the home.

Three generations lived in the Waterhouse Residence before the Art and History Museums — Maitland (A&H) bought the home in 1989 and restored it to its 1885 state to be used as a museum.

On Saturday, Dec. 3, Bob and Tom, along with author Patda Jim, reconvened to the Waterhouse Residence to remember and celebrate this life of William Waterhouse and the book he inspired years after his death.

Patda spoke of her journey through Waterhouse's life, weaving together the details provided in his letters with the context of the world at the time.

"When I decided to write it in first person, it was because I didn't want it to be boring," she said. "But I also didn't want to take any liberties with it."

Her research took her up and down the East Coast, traveling to research Waterhouse's life journey as depicted in the letters.

"I wanted to bring the reader along to make them feel like they are William Waterhouse," she said.

After Jim's words, Bob Peterson gave a tour of the Waterhouse Residence reminiscing to his days living there, and how it has changed since then.

He recalls wallpapering the parlor with his father, and when the wainscoting in the kitchen was painted olive green and his aunt Stella was so angry with the paint job she refused to return to the home except on holidays.

He stands in his childhood bedroom reminiscing when he could see the stars from cracks in the ceiling molding and the giant spiders that would crawl in and terrify his mother.

The house, he said, is far different now than when he lived in it, but that it still holds his great-grandfather's spirit.

"This was a wonderful place to grow up then," he said. "It's a really beautiful house."

Andrea Bailey Cox, A&H director, said the house is a great historical landmark for Maitland to give people a look back to the middle-class Victorian lifestyle not often preserved.

“William Waterhouse literally and figuratively helped to build the town of Maitland,” Cox said. “There’s a lot of ties that can be made to this house and this man.”