A Dashing Adventure: the narrative of Francis Gottier De Liesseline
Today the Society was so pleased to welcome students from the Classical Conversations Home-school Group for an Educational Hour on "The narrative of Francis Gottier De Liesseline" as formerly published in 1901 in Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina No. 8, pages 27-34, presented by Cheves Leland and Elizabeth Gay.
Classical Conversations Home-school Group
The narrative is the exciting story of the daring account of the recapture of calvary horses captured at DuPre’s Ferry on the Santee River in 1780. Two teenage boys take on this dashing adventure and manage to move fourteen horses several miles across river, swamp and terrain by themselves and return them to Lt. Col. William Washington.
Six students were selected as “readers” and the story was read aloud with a reference map visual aid so various points of action could be identified. As each child read their part, they learned not only the heroic story but also the meaning of new words and lessor known locations between Charleston and the Santee where the action occurred. The program included a discussion of the Marsh Tacky horse commonly used during the period and a reliable seat for moving through bogs and swampy terrain. It is also the state horse of South Carolina.
Cheves shared the moving words of Francis Gottier De Liesseline, from his later years of life, as a conclusion for the day: “And now, I must confess, that when I reflect upon those scenes of the Revolution, so long past and gone, my soul is buoyed up with ‘a holy flame,’ to think, though unimportant my services, I did all in my power for the good of my country, and that I lent a willing hand in erecting that grand and noble edifice of patriotism, dedicated to Liberty and Independence, and which is cemented with the blood of those heroes and statesmen of the Revolution and the glory and pride of all true Americans, as well as the admiration and wonder of all civilized nations.”
At the conclusion of the program, students were invited to color the story of the horses moving from the barn to the river crossing. We so enjoyed seeing their artistic works.
