244 



COVODE, JOHK 



land. On the morning of June llth, the Ameri- 

 cans destroyed the captured forts, burned the 

 neighboring houses, and continued to advance. 

 The Monocacy smoothed the way for the land- 

 ed troops, as her shells cleared away all the 

 shore batteries and the works of fortification. 

 Thus, without encountering serious resistance, 

 they reached the fort from which fire had been 

 opened on June 1st. After a brief fire on both 

 sides, the Americans stormed the fort, and on 

 the first onset took it, with a loss of tbree 

 killed and seven wounded. Lieutenant McKee 

 was killed as he entered the intrenchments. 



A number of prisoners were taken, including 

 the officer second in command, who was badly 

 wounded, the commander-in-chief having been 

 killed. The fleet returned to the Bois6e an- 

 chorage two days later. The Coreans sent on 

 board a letter filled with the most insulting 

 and abusive language, to which no reply was 

 made. Admiral Rodgers, however, sent to 

 the Coreans to know what he should do with 

 the prisoners. The Coreans answered he might 

 do what he liked with them. Two days later 

 he set them at liberty, and sent two messages 

 ashore ; the local authority refused to receive 

 them, saying it was as much as his head was 

 worth to send them, and it was no use to attempt 

 to communicate further with the court. Mr. 

 Low, the American minister, then sent a for- 

 mal protest that his mission was peaceful, and 

 that the American attack was not for a refusal to 

 negotiate, but because the Coreans had treach- 

 erously fired on the boats. The Coreans fought 

 like men. Their weapons are wretched old 

 firelocks, and their cutlasses made of soft iron, 

 which bent like old hoop. They were dressed 

 in armor of nine thicknesses, cotton-padded, 

 so that only rifle-balls could penetrate them. 

 Their swords produced no effect. Documents 

 captured showed that the Corean Government 

 had planned the surprise of the American fleet, 

 and were astonished at the failure of the forts 

 to annihilate the foreign vessels at the first 

 fire. 



Twelve native Christians came alongside the 

 admiral's flag-ship in a junk, and begged to be 

 taken to Shanghai, and that their junk be burnt 

 to prevent its falling into the hands of the na- 

 tive authorities, who would thereby discover 

 from what village they came, and punish their 

 relatives. The request was granted. 



On July 3d the American squadron left the 

 coast of Corea, the Monocacy and the Palos 

 returning to Shanghai to repair their damages, 

 and the other vessels to Che-foo. 



COVODE, Jontf, an energetic politician and 

 political leader of Pennsylvania, long a mem- 

 ber of Congress, born in Westmoreland County, 

 Pa., March 17, 1808; died at Harrisburg, Pa., 

 January 11, 1871. He was of Dutch descent, 

 and his early years were spent on a back woods 

 farm in Westmoreland County ; but before at- 

 taining his majority he abandoned the farm, 

 and, after a short apprenticeship to a black- 

 smith, left the forge to enter upon the then 



newly-developed but rapidly-growing coal- 

 trade. To this he subsequently added a large 

 woollen manufactory, and was also a stockhold- 

 er and director in several of the railroad lines 

 which traversed his native county. Restless 

 in the life of money-making thus suddenly 

 opened to him, he eagerly sought political ac- 

 tivity, and by the wise discrimination of his 

 neighbors was elected to the Legislature, and 

 displayed a zeal so honest and persistent that 

 he was returned again. Upon the conclusion 

 of his term he was sent to the Thirty-fourth 

 Congress, serving on one of the most impor- 

 tant committees then organized. He was re- 

 elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress. Mr. Co- 

 vode made a national reputation on his re- 

 election to the Thirty-sixth Congress, when, as 

 chairman of the special committee appointed 

 to investigate certain charges against President 

 Buchanan, he displayed a vigor and decisive 

 penetration which subsequently gained full rec- 

 ognition from Congress and the country. Mr. 

 Covode's constituents proved their apprecia- 

 tion of his services to them, by reflecting him 

 to the Thirty-seventh Congress. He entered 

 into the measures of the war with great 

 ardor, and strained every nerve to put the 

 most effective weapons in the hand of the 

 military power. He sent three sons into 

 the army, the youngest but fifteen years old. 

 The eldest became colonel of the Fourth Penn- 

 sylvania Cavalry, and was killed near Rich- 

 mond. Mr. Covode was an active member of 

 the "Joint Committee on the Conduct of the 

 War," and gave undying offence to the friends 

 of the Confederacy in the North. When Presi- 

 dent Johnson began his term of office, he sent 

 Mr. Covode south to aid in the reconstruction 

 of the disaffected States. He did not see mat- 

 ters as the President desired, and was hastily 

 recalled. He was thereafter a bitter thorn in 

 the side of the President, and aided largely in 

 restraining his executive power. In 1868 the 

 friends of Mr. Covode urged him again to ac- 

 cept a nomination to Congress, as there was 

 danger of losing the district to a Democrat. 

 He entered the contest with such a dauntless 

 energy that the Democratic preponderance 

 was reversed, and, although the Governor re- 

 fused to give either candidate a certificate be- 

 cause of the confusion in the returns Con- 

 gress at once admitted him to his seat. In 

 1869 he was appointed chairman of the Re- 

 publican State Committee of Pennsylvania, 

 and was very active in the struggle for the 

 election of Grant and Geary. In 1870 he de- 

 clined a renomination to Congress, and the dis- 

 trict, in consequence, was carried by a Demo- 

 crat. With all his impetuous energy, Mr. Co- 

 vode had the impassiveness of his ancestors' 

 Dutch nature, which made him as tenacious 

 of conviction as the heir of a Corsican ven- 

 detta. He was recognized in his State as a 

 strong political power. His unthinking im- 

 petuosity and the very energy of his action 

 and speech made him many bitter enemies, as 



