He worked for several years on his father's farm, served an apprenticeship to a blacksmith, and then was employed at a woolen mill in Lockport, Pennsylvania.

On February 21, 1868, Covode introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives to impeach President Andrew Johnson.

Covode is most famous for chairing a committee to investigate the possibility of impeaching President James Buchanan during the spring and summer of 1860.

His oldest son, George H. Covode (1835–1864), was a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War.

He died on June 25, 1864, after being shot in the arm and stomach by Confederate troops he had mistaken for Unionists.