Karen Yvonne Hamilton, April 2026
I am reading Matthiessen’s final version of the Lostmans trilogy again. And I am irked again. (You can read my original ‘irked’ post here.)
DISCLAIMER
Despite my personal annoyance, I want to emphasize here that ALL these books are stand-alone GREAT novels. As fiction. When I take away my familial connection to the stories, I am able to read these books as the well-written stories they are. If you are interested in the history of South Florida and the Everglades, these books top the list of BEST HISTORICAL FICTION.
Thank you, Peter Matthiessen for taking on the monumental task of bringing the pioneer days of the Florida Everglades to life.
The Trilogy
In 2019 I completed my book, Lostmans Heritage: Pioneers in the Florida Everglades. Matthiessen’s first book Killing Mr. Watson, published in 1990, is the one that galvanized me to complete a book I started in the 1980s. In Killing Mr. Watson, my family was finally recognized – using their full and true names – as original settlers of the Florida Everglades before it became a national park.
By the second book in the trilogy, Lostman’s River, the Hamilton names had been changed. They were changed again in 1999 with the third book in the trilogy, Bone by Bone.
I never asked Mr. Matthiessen why he changed the names of ONLY the Hamilton family. I never got the chance to because he passed away in 2014. I have an idea though the change came after backlash from certain members of the Hamilton family who took issue with seeing their ancestors portrayed in the book, even though they themselves had contributed to Matthiessen’s research. I imagine the publishers insisted on the name change due to possible legal issues.
I want to note here, AGAIN, that the entire set of books is FICTION. Creative Nonfiction at best, which means the author took creative liberties with actual facts to create a fictional story.
Should you read the Trilogy or the Compilation?
The trilogy books are shorter – 500+ pages or so than the compilation (Shadow Country) – almost 900 pages. So if you’re looking for a shorter read, go with those three books.
DOWNSIDE: The name changes throughout the trilogy are confusing. If you read Killing Mr. Watson and then move on to Lostman’s River, you will have to do some mental gymnastics to connect the change in names. Richard Hamilton is now Robert Harden (he will become Richard Harden in Shadow Country). There are other name changes in the second book, not just the Hamilton’s.
All three books in the trilogy can be read as stand alone novels. They are all quite good and true to Peter Matthiessen, well written.
If you can handle a larger book, I would suggest just going with Shadow Country. The whole story in one book. No worry about name changes and confusion. The names of pretty much all the main players who lived in the Everglades at that time are accurate, except the Hamilton family. (see end of post for the name changes)
The Hamilton Family
I did my research (see the bibliography of Lostmans Heritage: Pioneers in the Florida Everglades if you doubt that). In regards to the Hamilton family, MOST of what Matthiessen writes is spot on truth. The biggest fictional component is the Indian heritage – THAT is something that has never been proven. I have not been able to validate that. And if you do your research on Richard Hamilton, you will know that Richard was prone to his OWN truth which was quite often whatever tale he chose to tell at the time.
ERASED AGAIN
The reason for my ire is that I spent so many years working to have my ancestors recognized as members of the community of Everglades pioneers and settlers. I brought them back to life and shared THEIR stories of life in the Everglades before the National Park.
Matthiessen brought them to life in 1990 with Killing Mr. Watson.
And then he ERASED them again in 2008 with Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend.
Letting it Go
Okay, I’ll let it go now. As an author myself, I understand completely why Matthiessen did what he did. And with Shadow Country, he put it all together and produced a brilliant novel. Matthiessen says in his Author’s Note:
“In this new manifestation…ever returning to one man’s obsessive self-destruction set against the historic background of slavery and civil war, imperialism, and the rape of land and life under the banner of industrial progress. Indirectly but perhaps most importantly, it concerns the tragic racism that still darkens the integrity of a great land like a cloud shadow.”
Lostmans Heritage: Pioneers in the Florida Everglades
I spent over 30 years compiling stories and research on my family. The final book is not fiction like Matthiessen but a carefully researched compilation of oral history, interviews, and academic research about life in the Florida Everglades before the National Park took over. It also includes my own journey as I navigated all the feelings upon discovering that my ancestor, Richard Hamilton, was a slave in Georgia before being brought to Florida.
The University of Florida Press was working with me to publish it but, after changes within the press, finally asked me to remove the personal narrative before they could publish it. As I felt that my personal journey was an important part of this work, I declined and self-published. In 2021, Lostmans Heritage won the silver medal in the Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Book Awards.
NAME CHANGES
| Killing Mr. Watson(their real names) | Lostman’s River | Bone by Bone(I never did read this one.) | Shadow Country |
| Richard Hamilton | Robert Harden | Richard Harden | |
| Eugene Hamilton | Earl Harden | Earl Harden | |
| John Leon Hamilton | Lee Harden | John Owen Harden | |
| Walter Hamilton | Webster Harden | Webster Harden | |
| Sarah Johnson Hamilton | Sadie Harden | Sally Johnson Harden | |
| William ‘Buddy’ Hamilton | Wilson Hamilton | ||
| Robert Hamilton | Roark Hamilton |
The Murder of William ‘Buddy’ Hamilton and cousin, Robert Hamilton
A fictional account by Matthiessen about the murder of my grandfather in Lostman’s River (pages 443-446). Based on my family’s oral history and newspaper accounts, the fictionalized version is pretty accurate.
Whichever book you choose to read first, I wish you HAPPY READING.
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