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Heard County, its territories taken from Carroll, Coweta and Troup counties in 1830, remembers Stephen Heard, a relentless patriot during the Revolutionary War and at one time an acting governor of Georgia. When Tories captured the new state capital at Augusta, Heard moved the government and its documents to Heard's Fort. Eventually, Tories captured Heard and condemned him for sedition, but, as one Georgia legend has it, Heard hid in a laundry basket and, with assistance from a family servant, escaped jail. The county seat, Franklin, is named for Benjamin Franklin.
