{"id":1740,"date":"2025-04-21T20:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lewisandclarkboathouse.org\/?p=1740"},"modified":"2025-04-21T20:00:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T20:00:56","slug":"lewis-and-clark-in-mississippi-desc-joins-in-celebrating-lafayette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewisclarkmuseum.org\/?p=1740","title":{"rendered":"Lewis and Clark in Mississippi? DESC joins in celebrating Lafayette"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent spring morning, the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, MO (DESC), the <\/span>reenactment arm of the Lewis & Clark Boathouse and Museum, finds themselves in <\/span>Natchez, Mississippi. This may seem odd, since we know that Lewis & Clark explored <\/span>the passage to the west coast via the Missouri River back in the early 1800\u2019s. However, <\/span>this group of passionate reenactors finds themselves all over the U.S. at any given time.<\/span><\/p>\n

This time, DESC members were participating in a tribute to General Marquis de Lafayette on his final tour of the U.S. While the celebration centered on Lafayette, a host of other noted U.S. early historical folks, such as George Washington, were also in attendance as <\/span>reenactors at the festival. The event was hosted by the Mississippi Sons of the <\/span>American Revolution (MS SAR) and the Natchez Literary & Cinema Celebration <\/span>(NCLL).<\/span><\/p>\n

As this event in Natchez reveals, the dedicated contingent of Lewis and Clark <\/span>reenactors makes history come alive. Thirty reenactors\/volunteers demonstrated a <\/span>variety of early American frontier skills to 720 students from Natchez, the local <\/span>community and to attendees at the Mississippi state SAR convention\/NLCC convention.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a daily flag raising and lowering, accompanied by the group\u2019s traditional <\/span>singing of “Chester,” a patriotic anthem that was originally sung during the Revolutionary <\/span>War.<\/span><\/p>\n

The re-enactors dined on camp-style food, fired guns and showed off artifacts of the era. A ball was held for General Lafayette, with period music by our fellow St. Charles history groups: the Boonslick Strings and the Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corps, both also based in St. Charles, Missouri.\u00a0<\/span>A member of DESC directed couples in the grand march, waltzes, and other dances that were popular at the time.\u00a0<\/span>It is similar to square dancing.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We couldn’t have celebrated Lafayette without DESC being here,” said Bryant Boswell, organizer of the\u00a0<\/span>Follow the Frenchman through Natchez: The Return Tour of Lafayette<\/span>\u00a0event and a longtime DESC volunteer. “The Discovery Expedition was presenting at six stations for the public and when the formed up in formation they were crisp. I was very proud of every one of them and it showed what is possible for our organization.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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On a recent spring morning, the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, MO (DESC), the reenactment arm of the Lewis & Clark Boathouse and Museum, finds themselves in Natchez, Mississippi. This may seem odd, since we know that Lewis & Clark explored the passage to the west coast via the Missouri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"spay_email":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[42],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t