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Article: Beside the Santee River.(Huguenots and Francis Marion)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Cobblestone
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1685, King Louis XIV of France stripped his country's Protestants of all their rights. He made attendance at Protestant meetings punishable by life in prison. Then, to force Protestants to convert to Catholicism, he closed France's borders. About 300,000 French Protestants, known as Huguenots, managed to escape. They abandoned all their belongings and risked their lives in order to worship in their chosen religion.
Many of these refugees made their way across the Atlantic Ocean to America and the English colony of what became known as South Carolina. Among them were two sisters and their husbands -- Judith and Benjamin Marion and Esther and Anthony Cordes. ...