Waverly

Waverly, or the Peyton house, is located on the historic Natchez Trace, the main road from Raymond to Clinton. Waverly was constructed from 1831-34, and in 1863 was used as the headquarters of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson after the Battle of Raymond on May 12, as well as the headquarters of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on May 13. The family history states that, while Grant slept in a tent outside the house, he used a big parlor and the gallery of the house for staff calls with his officers., The house was built by John B. Peyton, an early surveyor and settler of central Mississippi. He was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1797 and migrated to Natchez, Mississippi, in 1819. He surveyed for many years, and was elected major of the 18th Regiment of the Mississippi Militia in 1827. Maj. Peyton was also elected to the Mississippi legislature in 1828, and in 1829, he cast the deciding vote that prevented the state capital from being moved to Clinton from Jackson. Judge Isaac Caldwell of Clinton challenged Peyton to a duel over the matter, and the major, having the choice of weapons, selected rifles. Both men survived the encounter, but Caldwell, who had a predilection for settling disputes on dueling grounds, was killed in a duel in Clinton seven years later in 1836, Maj. Peyton died at Waverly in 1868., Waverly is built on brick piers, and is a one-and-a-half-story gable-front with dormers and elaborate woodwork. It features 14 foot ceilings downstairs and nine foot ceilings upstairs, as well as an indoor carriage room so that the ladies could stay dry when disembarking the carriage on a rainy day., [Caption] Waverly in 1936