Civil War
At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Covode enlisted as a private in Company D of the 4th Pennsylvania Cavalry, raised in Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania. During the election of officers, he was chosen as first lieutenant. The company was soon transferred to Camp Campbell near Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C.. Covode was later promoted to captain of the company, and on March 12, 1862, to major as the 4th Pennsylvania was moved rapidly to the front.
Covode and his men marched to Yorktown, Virginia, and soon saw action in the battles of Malvern Hill and the Second Bull Run. During the fall of 1862, the regiment was encamped on the north bank of the Potomac River near Hancock, Maryland, but soon participated in the fighting at Antietam, and later at Fredericksburg.
In 1863, Covode fought at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and others. On one occasion in Falls Church, Virginia, Covode and his troops were entirely surrounded by the Confederate troops, but dashing against them he used his sword so skillfully that he opened a way for his men to follow and all escaped. His strength made him a power in hand-to-hand contests of this kind, but in addition he was almost without any personal fear. In camp life, he was described as jovial and was always unusually good natured.
He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on December 8, 1863, and was made a full colonel on May 28, 1864.
Read more about this topic: George H. Covode
Famous quotes by civil war:
“At Hayes’ General Store, west of the cemetery, hangs an old army rifle, used by a discouraged Civil War veteran to end his earthly troubles. The grocer took the rifle as payment ‘on account.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“I wish to see, in process of disappearing, that only thing which ever could bring this nation to civil war.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“He was high and mighty. But the kindest creature to his slaves—and the unfortunate results of his bad ways were not sold, had not to jump over ice blocks. They were kept in full view and provided for handsomely in his will. His wife and daughters in the might of their purity and innocence are supposed never to dream of what is as plain before their eyes as the sunlight, and they play their parts of unsuspecting angels to the letter.”
—Anonymous Antebellum Confederate Women. Previously quoted by Mary Boykin Chesnut in Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, edited by C. Vann Woodward (1981)
“During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)