Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s February 14, 1779. I’m at Fort Cornwallis in Augusta, Georgia. I’m in the stockade visiting with the captured Yankee, Governor Heard.
JG: “Governor Heard, are you being treated fairly by…?”
MK: “Governor Heard, honey, it’s Mary Kate. I’ve come to set you free. I’m gonna sneak you out of here as sure as porcupine’s prick beavers.”
Amazingly, Mammy Kate, the African American slave of Governor Heard, did smuggle her master to freedom from the British.
Near Elberton, Georgia, Gov. Heard’s Grave historical marker reads, “Stephen Heard, Governor of Georgia in 1781, lawyer, planter, surveyor, and soldier of the Revolution, lies buried in this family cemetery. With a price on his head, he was captured by the British at the Battle of Kettle Creek and condemned to die. On the eve of his execution he was rescued by his servant, ‘Mammy Kate,’ with the aid of her husband, ‘Daddy Jack,’ both of whom lie buried near him…”
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.
