Leonard Covington was born near Aquasco 30 October 1768.  Commissioned by President Washington in 1792, he served three years in the Ohio Indian campaigns under General Anthony Wayne.  Returning to his Prince George’s County plantation, Covington Farm, he was elected to the ninth United States Congress in 1804, and appointed to fill a vacancy in the Maryland Senate in 1807.  In 1809 he entered military service again and served various posts through the South.  General Covington was transferred to the northern theatre during the War of 1812, and participated in the American expedition to capture Montreal.  He was wounded and died 13 November 1813 at French Mills (now named Fort Covington in his honor), New York.

(October 30, 1768–November 14, 1813)

Army General

An accomplished professional soldier, Leonard Covington was the second American general to fall in the War of 1812.

Covington was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on October 30, 1768, and in March 1792 he joined the army as a coronet of cavalry. He rose to lieutenant in March 1793 and campaigned with the army of Gen. Anthony Wayne against the Indians of Ohio. Covington commanded a detachment of 50 light dragoons during the siege of Fort Hamilton on June 30, 1794, and had a horse shot from under him, but gained commendation in Wayne’s dispatches. Promotion to captain followed, and in August 1794 Covington distinguished himself at the victory of Fallen Timbers over Blue Jacket and Little Turtle. Wayne ordered the light dragoons to turn the enemy’s right flank, but when Covington’s superior officer was killed, he took command of the squadron, charged forward, and personally slew two warriors. Wayne again commended Covington for his actions, but he resigned his commission on September 12, 1795, to pursue farming.

Once home, Covington developed an interest in politics and served several years in Maryland’s House of Delegates. He next won election to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican in March 1805, and remained there two years. However, British aggression in the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair of 1807 rekindled Covington’s interest in military matters and in January 1809, President Thomas Jefferson appointed him lieutenant colonel of the Light Dragoon Regiment. He rose to full colonel the following month, and repaired to Fort Adams, in the Mississippi Territory, to assume command. In this capacity, Covington orchestrated the American occupation of Spanish-held Baton Rouge on December 10, 1810, in concert with the militia forces under Governor William C. C. Claiborne of Louisiana. After several months of garrison duty at Fort Stoddert and Pass Christian, Covington was ordered by Gen. James Wilkinson to mount an amphibious expedition against the Spanish town and fortress of Mobile. On April 13, 1813, the Americans, assisted by gunboats under Comdr. John Shaw, occupied their objective without shots being fired. Covington then received orders directing him north to the war in Canada.

Covington arrived at Sacket’s Harbor, New York, in July 1813, and was promoted to brigadier general the following August. He assumed control of the Third Brigade, consisting of the Ninth, 16th, and 25th infantry units, and accompanied Wilkinson’s ill-fated expedition down the St. Lawrence River against Montreal. This strategy had been concocted by Wilkinson in concert with Secretary of War John Armstrong, and was intended as a decisive blow that would end the war in Canada. As Wilkinson’s force of four brigades sailed down the St. Lawrence River from the west, another division under Gen. Wade Hampton would march north from Plattsburgh, New York. The two columns would unite in Lower Canada before pushing on to Montreal, a strategic supply center. Once captured, all British posts as far west as Detroit would be rendered useless for want of supplies.

Unfortunately, Wilkinson got off to a late start and did not leave Sacket’s Harbor until October, in the middle of the rainy season. After a miserable, rain-soaked transit, the Americans were trailed by a British force out of Kingston that followed their every move. On November 11, 1813, an ailing Wilkinson ordered the Americans to disembark under Gen. John P. Boyd and engage their pursuers. The ensuing Battle of Chrysler’s Farm, fought in a drizzling snowstorm, was one of the worst American defeats of the war. Under Boyd’s inept direction, parts of three brigades and a squadron of light dragoons were committed piecemeal against a strongly posted enemy line. The British troops, using expert discipline and maneuvering, defeated each thrust in detail. During the heat of battle, Boyd directed Covington’s brigade against the enemy’s center. The Americans advanced and drove enemy light troops before them, but then stalled in the face of heavy musketry. Covington, conspicuous on his white charger, was suddenly felled by a shot from a farmhouse and the attack petered out. He was evacuated as the Americans withdrew to their boats, and he died on November 14, 1813. Covington thus became the second general to die in the War of 1812, after Gen. Zebulon M. Pike at York in April. His remains were buried at the winter encampment at French Mills, but they were subsequently interred at Sacket’s Harbor in August 1820. The towns of Fort Covington, New York, and Covington, Kentucky, were named in his honor.

Bibliography

Brandon, Nellie W., and W. W. Drake, Memoir of Leonard Covington, 1928; Jamison, Leonard, The Life and Times of Leonard Covington, 1987; Way, Ronald, “The Day of Chrysler’s Farm,” Canadian Geographical Journal 61 (1961): 184–217.

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