USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 75
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An ardent Democrat, his effectual work for the party came to the notice of Governor Bigler, who on February 2, 1852, appointed him adjutant-general of Pennsylvania. In June of the same year, President Pierce offered him the appointment of consul to Hong Kong, China, which he held under advisement till October, 1853, when he resigned his office here and sailed for China. Pres- ident Buchanan continued him in the Hong Kong consulate. In 1857 he re- turned to Greensburg and was united in marriage with Elizabeth Barclay, a daughter of John Barclay, and a young woman of highly cultivated taste and 42
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refinement. They sailed at once for Hong Kong. The duties of his position were burdensome, and the climate of China undermined his constitution. He filled the duties of the office, however, under President Lincoln till February 22, 1862, when he and his family sailed in the ship "Surprise" for the United States, arriving in New York on May 16th. For many weeks he was con- fined to his berth on board the ship, and was with difficulty removed to a hotel in New York. He died at Blanchard's Hotel, May 22, 1863, in the thirty- ninth year of his age. His body was brought to Greensburg and buried in the old St. Clair cemetery, with one of the most largely attended funerals ever known there.
General Keenan was a man of unusual promise. He was fully six feet high and built in proportion, with dark eyes and black hair. Nature had en- dowed him with a fine intellect and this, with his noted physical strength, en- abled him to push forward and surmount obstacles which would have over- come other men of less native power. No young man in Pennsylvania had a more brilliant future before him than he. From his youth his career had been steadily onward and upward. He was generous, intrepid and courageous, yet gentle, kind and humane. He was noted for his courteous and graceful man- ners, not manners of the assumed kind, but those which resulted from a nat- urally generous and happy disposition. He had an unusually accurate knowl- edge of human character, and was seldom deceived in his estimates of men. In the danger of battle he was never excited, surprised or disconcerted, but only aroused to cool and intrepid action. He is said to have possessed many of the qualities of a great commander, and had he gone through the Civil war as was his desire, he would doubtless have distinguished himself as a leader of men in battle. Without the aid of fortune, or even of friends except those he won by the excellence of his character, he had come up step by step with- out a single setback or defeat. The position which he filled in China became one of great importance in the Sepoy Mutiny and in other troubles in the east. He was with the United States marines when the English took Canton and the adjoining country. Later he accompanied Admiral Perry on his memorable expedition to open the Japanese ports to American commerce.
He was the personal friend of General Lewis Cass, Simon Cameron, Gov- ernor Bigler, General Henry D. Foster and other well known Democratic lead- ers of that day.
Though he read law in Greensburg he never practiced or became known as a lawyer, but his correspondence with the State Department in Washing- ton during the Sepoy and other kindred troubles in the East, gave him high rank as an authority on international law. Like his military career, his life as a diplomat was cut short, and we cannot know what he might have accom- plished had he lived to maturer years and riper wisdom. He died at an age when most men are content if they have but won a fair start in public life.
JOHN WHITE GEARY was born in Westmoreland county, December 30, 1819. His parents were Scotch-Irish, but several generations of the fam-
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ily had been in this country before his birth. His father, Richard Geary, was a native of Franklin county. He had been well educated and was a man of considerable force of character. His mother, Margaret White, who was born in Washington county, Maryland, was a woman of superior taste and amiable disposition. Richard Geary was engaged in the manufacture of iron, and for a time was a resident of Laughlintown, when Washington Furnace was in blast. Failing in the iron business he became a teacher of a select school in Mt. Pleasant, and followed this profession during the few remaining years of his life.
John W. Geary entered Jefferson College at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, but the sudden death of his father cut his college course short, for to assist in the support of his mother he began teaching school and never returned to col- lege. He was also a clerk in a store, and began to study surveying and civil engineering. In this employment he went to Kentucky, where he was in the employ of the state and of the Green River Railroad Company to lay out sev- eral important lines. On his return to Pennsylvania he became assistant superintendent of the Portage Railroad, crossing the Allegheny mountains, and was thus engaged when the Mexican war broke out. He raised a com- pany in Cambria county, called the American Highlanders. It was taken into service at Pittsburg and became part of the Second Regiment. under com- mand of Colonel Roberts, with Geary as lieutenant-colonel. On the death of Roberts, Geary succeeded him as colonel of the regiment. His services in the Mexican war were without special incident. At its close he went to Cali- fornia, where President Polk had appointed him postmaster of San Francisco in 1849. He was also mail agent for the Pacific coast, with almost unbounded authority in the way of appointing postmasters, establishing mail routes, and in making contracts for carrying the mail throughout California. When Zach- ary Taylor became president he removed Geary from office, but eight days afterwards he was elected alcade of San Francisco by a popular vote. Soon after this he was appointed governor of the territory of California and judge of the First Instance. These offices were of Mexican origin. The office of alcade combined that of probate judge, recorder, notary public and coroner. The Court of First Instance had extensive civil and criminal jurisdiction, and passed also on cases arising on the seas, cases usually passed on by Admiralty courts. On May 1, 1850, he was elected first mayor of San Francisco. He declined a re-election, but was put on the board of commissioners to manage the public debt of the city, and was made chairman of the board. He was also chairman of the Territorial Committee, and as such secured a Free-State clause in the constitution of California and had the clause referred to the people of the state for ratification.
In February, 1852, he returned to Westmoreland county because of the failing health of his wife, who died February 28, 1853. Here he was engaged in farming, his farm being near New Alexandria, paying special attention to the raising of fine stock, In 1855 President Pierce offered him the governor-
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ship of Utah, which he declined. Soon afterwards he was appointed governor of Kansas, and was commissioned in July, 1855. He removed at once to Kan- sas. He was governor of Kansas Territory till March, 1857. He then re- turned to his farm and remained here till the breaking out of the Civil war.
When Fort Sumter was fired on he opened an office for recruits, and ten- dered his services to President Lincoln. They were promptly accepted and he was authorized to raise a regiment, he being commissioned a colonel. So great was the war feeling among our people that sixty-six companies offered to enter his command. He was permitted to increase his regiment to sixteen companies, with one battery of six guns, the full regiment consisting of 1551 officers and men. The artillery subsequently became the somewhat renowned Knapp's Battery.
His services in the Civil war greatly distinguished him, and were such as would call for a much more extensive review than the space in a county his- tory will permit. They belong naturally to the state and nation, and may be read with interest in any good history of the Civil war.
Geary was a Democrat at the breaking out of the Civil war, and as such entered the service. At its close he was a Republican, and in 1866 was nomi- nated by the Republican party for the governorship of Pennsylvania. He was elected and was inaugurated governor on January 15, 1867. In 1869 he was again nominated, without serious opposition, and was again elected for a term of three years. The term of his second election expired in January, 1873. He had arranged to go west to engage extensively in railroad building, but was taken ill and died suddenly in Pittsburg a few days after the close of his second term of governorship.
In personal appearance he was of large build, and apparently had many years of usefulness before him, for he died at the age of fifty-three. He was a Presbyterian in religion, and was a man of exceptionally good habits. His first wife was Margaret Ann, a daughter of James R. Logan, of Westmoreland county. By her he had two sons who grew to manhood. One of them be- came an officer in the regular army, and the other, Edward, was killed at the battle of Wauhatchie, in the Civil war. In November, 1858, he was married to Mrs. Mary C. Henderson, of Cumberland county. He was naturally a man of executive ability and of great energy rather than a man of brilliant intellec- tual powers.
RICHARD COULTER DRUM was born in Greensburg in 1825, and was graduated from the Greensburg Academy to Jefferson College. He did not remain long enough to be graduated there. Returning to Greensburg he be- gan to study law, and in the meantime had learned the printing business. When about nineteen years old the Mexican war came, in 1846. His older brother was already a graduate from West Point, and from him he had imbibed a military spirit.
December 8th, therefore, he entered the Mexican war as a private in Com-
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pany K, First Pennsylvania Volunteers. In February, 1847, he was commis- sioned second lieutenant of infantry, and assigned to the Ninth Regiment. In the battle of Chapultepec, September 13, he gallantly led a charge, and was brevetted. But his success was saddened by the death of his brother, who fell in the famous charge upon Belen Gate. At the close of the war he was trans- ferred to the Fourth Artillery, and with it was ordered to Florida. In the same regiment were such men as Pemberton, A. P. Howe, Garnett, Mansfield, Lovell, Fitz John Porter, and others who afterwards attained distinction in the Civil war. At Fort Sumter, September 16, 1850, he received the promotion to first lieutenant earned at Chapultepec. For the next ten years he was with the army and served with the Sioux expedition with Gen. Harney, and was with him in his efforts to preserve peace during the Kansas disturbances of 1855.
In November, 1856, he was appointed an aide to Gen. Persifer F. Smith, and also acted as assistant adjutant-general of the Department of the West. In 1858 he returned to his battery at Fortress Monroe, and was made adjutant of the post, March 16, 1861. His western experience gave him great know- ledge of the western situation and was unfortunate for him, for it took him away from the east, during the Civil war, when great opportunities to achieve fame and earn promotions were open to all brave and capable military men. He nevertheless was of great service to the Northern cause in the way of hold- ing open and guarding an overland route of travel to the west, and of keeping the Indians from revolting. The Mormons and the Mexican frontier also needed constant attention, for the resources of the Northern states were already severely strained by the war in the Southern states. How well he performed these duties in the west was shown in a substantial manner by the people of San Francisco and the west. October 1, 1860, they presented him with a purse containing over $40,000 in gold as a mark of their appreciation of his services during the war. August 3, 1861, he was promoted to the rank of major, and July 17, 1862, to that of lieutenant-colonel. At the close 'of the Civil war he returned east and was made adjutant-general to Gen. Meade, whom he accompanied south in the efforts of that period to reconstruct the states of Georgia and Alabama. He remained in the south until March, 1869, when he was promoted to a colonelcy in the Atlantic division of the army, with head- quarters at Philadelphia. When Gen. Meade died he was made adjutant-gen- eral to Gen. Hancock, his successor, and remained in that position till 1873. At that time he was sent to the Division of the Missouri, with headquarters at Chicago, and remained there till May 2, 1878.
In 1877 the country was convulsed with labor riots, and Gen. Drum's per- sonal judgment and sound discretion which he exercised so wisely on the Pacific coast during the Civil war were again called into requisition. The riots came unlooked for, and when Generals Sherman and Sheridan were both in the far west, far removed from the telegraph. A howling mob filled the streets of Chicago, and they were rendered still more lawless by exaggerated
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reports of the success of the strike in Pittsburg. Knowing his ability, the War Department at Washington gave Gen. Drum full power to maintain the public peace. He at once collected all the military forces within reach, and with them guarded the city's property by placing Gatling guns at the most strategic points. He moreover patroled the entire city with bristling bayonets, and by these vigorous measures cowed the mob without firing a single gun, and yet saved the city from the slightest damage. For these services he re- ceived the public plaudits of the people of Chicago and the highest commenda- tions of the War Department.
On May 2, 1878, he was ordered to Washington, where he remained till the retirement of Adjutant-General Townsend, on June 15, 1880, when he succeeded him by appointment, and became the only adjutant-general in the history of the nation, it is said, who had not been educated at West Point. One of his first efforts in his new position was to recognize the militia of the different states, and try to have them uniform as much as possible in their . drills, rules, forms of government, etc. The militia he recognized as a nursery from which, in times of war, the nation could readily secure officers and men trained in military tactics. The response to this overture of friendship came most heartily from all parts of the country. To be thus recognized by the Government was more than the militia had expected, and, when it came from a man so distinguished in the military annals of the country, it was indeed overwhelming. Later he sent out tactical works, blank forms and books pre- scribed for the regular army, and for the first time sent out regular army officers to inspect the militia of the different states at their camps and musters. The great advantage which this innovation has since been to the National Guard can scarcely be appreciated. Their great improvement dates from the day Gen. Drum extended a helping hand to the state militia.
He was married in early life to a young woman named Morgan, the daughter of a notable family of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and while he remained adjutant-general was the head of one of the most fashionable and charming households in Washington City. Though now many years retired from the army, he is yet living and in good health. He is about five feet, nine inches in height, dresses in excellent taste, and is apparently almost as quick in his movements as though he were a young man. Throughout all his life he wrote rapidly, decided quickly, and executed promptly. The people of Westmore- land county are proud of his life and character, and may well regard him as one of their most gifted sons.
JOHN COVODE was born in Westmoreland county, March 17, 1808, and became one of the most potent factors in the political and business world our county ever produced. He was a son of Jacob Covode, and a grandson of Garret Covode, a native of Holland, who was kidnapped in the streets of Amsterdam by the captain of an out-going vessel. The kidnapped boy was brought to Philadelphia and sold as a "redemptioner," Under this mode of
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servitude, which was sanctioned by our law and has been considered elsewhere in this work, he was held for several years after he became of age. During this time it is said that he was employed as a domestic servant in the Mount Vernon household of Washington. He was born in the same year that gave birth to Washington, 1732, and was kidnapped about 1736. He finally re- deemed himself from this unjust bondage and then started cut in the world for himself. He lived to a good old age, dying in 1826, aged ninety-four years. It is not supposed that his name when a child in Holland was Garret Covode, but rather that that name was given him by the captain who had stolen him. John Covode's mother's name was Updegraff. She was of Quaker extrac- tion, and there is a tradition in the family that two of her ancestors, with a man named Wood, prepared a protest against the decision of William Penn in
JOHN COVODE.
recognizing the legality of African slavery in Pennsylvania. It was moreover said to have been the first anti-slavery manifesto published in this country.
Mr. Covode was brought up on a farm and taught habits of industry and economy which he retained until his death. When a young man he learned the trade of woolen manufacturing in New York State, and this engaged his attention in part for the remainder of his life. There was no time, we think, that he was not interested in the making of woolen textile fabrics. His place of birth and of residence was in the northern part of Ligonier Valley, in Fair- field township, which then bordered on the Conemaugh. When the Pennsyl- vania canal was built, therefore, it found him already located near its route, and he began life by working and contracting on its construction. When it was completed he engaged in transporting goods on it. It is said that he com- manded the first section-boat which went from Philadelphia to the Ohio. He
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was engaged in the mercantile business also, and in each venture was remark- ably successful. All this preceded his entry into the political world. He was later one of the early advocates of the construction of the Pennsylvania railroad, and was also a lifelong stockholder in it.
His first venture in the political world, as'an office-seeker, at least, was in 1844, when he was the Whig candidate for state senator. The district was strongly Democratic and his defeat was a foregone conclusion. Yet when he entered the field a second time he came so nearly being elected that the Dem- ocrats, being in power in the state, and being alarmed at his growing popularity among the Whigs, changed the district so as to put him into a district that was so strongly Democratic that he could not hope to win. This second canvass was made in 1850, and his successful opponent was Col. John McFarland, of Ligonier. When he was twenty-three years old he was appointed a justice cf the peace for "Ligonier and Fairfield Townships" by Governor Wolf. In this humble position his neighbors bestowed on him the sobriquet of "Honest" John Covode, and this he retained till his death. In 1854, when forty-six years of age, he was nominated for Congress by the Whigs of the nineteenth district, then composed of the counties of Westmoreland, Indiana and Armstrong. His opponent was Augustus Drum, an accomplished lawyer of his day, who was then a member of Congress, having been elected two years before by a large majority. But Mr. Drum had unfortunately introduced a measure relative to the Wilmot Provisc which made him enemies among the Abolition element of the Nineteenth district. As a result, Mr. Covode defeated him by the then handsome majority of 2,757 votes. He was thus a member of the XXXIVth Congress, and was re-elected in 1856, 1858, and in 1860. March 5, 1860, he introduced a resolution providing for a committee of five members of the house to "investigate whether the President of the United States," (James Buchanan), "or any other officer of the Government has, by money, patronage or other improper means, sought to influence the action of Congress, or any committees thereof, for or against the passage of any law appertaining to the rights of any State or Territory," etc. Of this committee he was made chair- man, and as such personally conducted a long and laborious system of inquiries which has been known in history as the "Covode Investigation." He unfor- tunately had no confidence in the administration of Buchanan. Voluminous testimony was taken, which was published in an elaborate report. A great many disclosures were made which, when published, to say the least, produced a most painful impression on the public mind, and greatly increased the un- popularity of the administration. In the light of subsequent events a revision of the report would be required, that justice be done either to Mr. Buchanan or Mr. Covode. But the disclosures made by the Covode Investigation passed out of view when the Civil war came, for greater and more important questions . were thus presented to the people of the United States for their solution. The investigation, however, gave Mr. Covode a national reputation, and helped greatly to make him one of the potent factors in the Civil war period of our
·HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY. 665
nation's history. It exposed particularly the corrupt means by which the Kansas and Nebraska legislation had been secured, and was for years almost a text-book in the hands of Republican stump speakers and editors in all parts of the United States. Mr. Covode was a member of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War up to March 4, 1863, when he retired temporarily from Congress. He was elected again to Congress in 1866, and in 1868 was pitted against Hon. Henry D. Foster, one of the most eminent lawyers western Penn- sylvania ever produced. A bitter contest ensued, both claiming the election, but the matter was decided in favor of Mr. Covode.
Pennsylvania had been a Democratic state generally until 1860, and in 1863 it was doubtful if the Governor, Andrew G. Curtin, could be re-elected, though he was a very able and popular man. Mr. Covode was put up as a candidate for the nomination and would undoubtedly have made a strong can- didate. He was chairman of the Republican state committee in 1869 and held the position till his death.
On January 10, 1871, he reached Harrisburg on his way to Washington, in apparently good health and passed a pleasant evening in Harrisburg in consul- tation with friends from various parts of the state who had met him there, per- haps by appointment. Expecting to take the morning train to Washington, he retired early. About three o'clock he was awakened by a severe pain about his heart. Medical skill was summoned at once, but in less than two hours he was numbered with the dead.
Mr. Covode's strong characteristics were his simplicity, his earnestness, and his sagacity and energy, and if to these is added kindness, his make-up will be complete. He had not been well educated, and at best could but clothe his ideas in homely phrase. Yet so earnest, so direct and good humored were his popular addresses, that thie studied preparation of the most polished law- yers was almost impotent when compared with his efforts. His simplicity made him a power with President Lincoln. Gen. N. P. Banks accredits Covode with having induced Lincoln, against the ruling of Secretary Stanton and against the advice of some of his most prominent supporters, to issue the order directing the immediate and unreserved exchange of prisoners during the latter part of the war.
By industry and business tact he had amassed an ample competence for that day, and had earned the name of being a shrewd business man and finan- cier. In the early years of the war, when bankers and capitalists were doubting the advisability of investing in the war loan to be issued, Mr. Covode tele- graphed the Secretary of the Treasury that he would take $50,000.00 of the forthcoming honds. The effect of the telegram was to greatly strengthen the public credit, and in this way it was worth more to the government than the amount paid for the bonds. He made but few, if any, set speeches in Con- gress, and one looks in vain in the columns of the Congressional Globe for the source or evidence of his great power and prominence. His strength lay in the fact that he was a fearless and tireless worker, a doer of things, a har-
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monizer of discordant elements. Though he won his elections only by bitter contests, he at once forgave his opponents, and in representing his district knew no party lines whatever. It was these qualities which combined to make him popular in his district and state, and the same qualities were the sequel of his power in Congress. In reviewing his character, Senator John Sherman, of Ohio, spoke these words :
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