Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s June 18, 1775. I’m at the home of John Adams. I’m visiting with nine-year-old Nabby and her seven-year-old brother, John Quincy.
JG: “Nabby, your brother, John Quincy, tells me you were watching the Battle of Bunker Hill from a roof top yesterday.”
NA: “Oh, yes, it was scary. I saw the redcoats shoot some of my daddy’s friends. It was very sad.”
JQA: “I saw Charlestown on fire. My father’s friend, Dr. Warren, was hit by a musket ball and died. My mother saw it, too, and she started to cry.”
The family of John Adams, our second president, sacrificed much during the American Revolution and saw many friends die for freedom.
A historical marker in Quincy, Massachusetts, reads, “From this spot, with her son, John Quincy Adams, then a boy of seven, by her side, Abigail Adams watched the smoke of burning Charlestown, while listening to the guns of Bunker Hill. Saturday, 17 June, 1775.”
John and Jan Gillespie are the founders of the Rawhide Boys’ Ranch; they have fostered 351 teenagers and wrote the book Our 351 Sons; they have also assisted numerous churches in developing youth programs and expanding their total church ministries. After running for U.S. Senate, John founded 1776 American Dream, which exists to demonstrate the vision of our founding fathers and help our generation of youth passionately embrace those values.
