John Covode

Covode was born in Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He worked for several years on his father's farm, served an apprenticeship to a blacksmith, and then was employed at a woolen mill in Lockport, Pennsylvania. He became owner of the woolen mill, and attained considerable wealth as a woolen manufacturer.[1][2] Other business interests included the Westmoreland Coal Company, where he served as the first president of the company in 1854.[3] He served for two terms in the Pennsylvania Legislature[1] (House of Representatives[2]). Two attempts to enter the Pennsylvania Senate were unsuccessful.[2]

In 1854, he was elected to Congress as an Opposition Party candidate.

After joining the Republican Party, he was re-elected to the 35th Congress in 1856. He was a strong supporter of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the Reconstruction Acts. He attended the Union National Convention in Philadelphia in 1866. On February 21, 1868, Covode introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to impeach President Andrew Johnson.

His oldest son, George H. Covode (1835–1864), was a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War. He died on June 25, 1864 after being shot in the arm and stomach by Confederate troops he had mistaken for Unionists.

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

• United States Congress. "John Covode (id: C000818)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Biography from Spartacus Educational
• The Political Graveyard
• John Covode at Find a Grave
• Papers of John Covode - People's Contest Website

• Chester, Edward W. "The Impact of the Covode Congressional Investigation." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 42 (December 1959): 343-50
• Baker, Jean H.: James Buchanan, Times Books: 2004