Thursday, May 27, 2010

Civil War Colored Troop Veterans - Laurel Hill Settlement

More today on some of the Civil War Veterans buried at Browns Cemetery. First up John Brown (abt 1830 - 1889). Old Elmer Brown was his son. And Keziah Harshberger (Lizzie's daughter) was Elmer's mother. John and Keziah were not married and for years Elmer went by Harshberger. It was set up that way to insure the land passed down to Keziah's children.
Company H, 4th Pa Cav. - was actually part of an all white regiment from Westmoreland County headed by George Covode.
Born in Covodesville (near Bolivar), Pennsylvania, Covode was the oldest son of John Covode, a U.S. congressman and staunch abolitionist. In his youth, George Covode was noted for his athletic proportions, being tall and well built and peculiarly fitted for the hardships of military life. He was educated in Ligonier Academy and Elders Ridge. After he left school, he engaged in mercantile pursuits for some years, but not with much success. In 1858, he married Annie Earl of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, who died a few months after their marriage. He remarried a few years afterwards to Bettie St. Clair Robb, a granddaughter of Arthur St. Clair, a major general in the Continental Army and the ninth President of the Continental Congress.
John Brown along with Old Orange Dorman walked down the old military road and joined up.
Covode was known to be very near-sighted, which caused trouble for him in identifying people at a far distance. On June 24, 1863, while in command of a brigade in Virginia, he mistook some Confederate skirmishers for his own troops and rode toward them. He discovered his mistake too late and, as he was turning to ride away, he was shot in the arm and stomach by an enemy volley. In the retreat, he was left within the enemy lines and died a few hours later.
John Brown is listed in the records as a barber - but had a tendency to take off for long periods at a time. Leaving the family without a means of support. He was 20 years older than Kesiah. And there is a story of the time she nearly tried to kill him by throwing a heavy chunk of wood at his head - all because he was smoking around some of their kids that were suffering from whooping cough at the time.

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