Born in Virginia, Heard fought in the French and Indian War in the Virginia militia under George Washington, then with his father and brother moved to the Georgia colony based on a land grant for such service, and built two forts in Wilkes County called "Fort Heard".

Voters elected Heard to the Georgia House of Representatives, where he served from 1779 to 1795 (the war officially ending in 1783).

Heard's paternal grandfather, John Sr., was his immigrant ancestor on that side, arriving about 1720 in Virginia from Ireland.

[4] With the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754, Heard left school in search of honor and adventure in the army.

Along with some of his brothers, Heard enlisted in the Virginia colonial regiment under the command of George Washington, then a colonel.

Following the war, the Heard family received a land grant of 150 acres for their service in what is today Wilkes County, Georgia.

This land was near the mouth of the Little River in an area that Britain had not yet acquired from the occupying Creek and Cherokee Indians.

Because of this, the family constructed Heard's Fort as a defensive post for travelers from Native American attacks and the wilderness.

He was joined by fellow Georgians Elijah Clarke, Nancy Hart, and John Dooly, who also lived in Wilkes County.

They forced his wife Jane, and their adopted daughter out into a snow storm; the women died from cold exposure.

"[citation needed] Heard was captured by British Loyalists at Kettle Creek in what was his last battle of the war.

Heard Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution obtained ten acres, which includes the former house site as well as the cemetery.