Brigadier General Leonard Wailes Covington was a respected politician and a war hero. Many "Covington" cities and counties were named in his honor following his death in the War of 1812.

As a military officer, he fought in the Battle of the Fallen Timbers and the War of 1812. He was a general in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 where he was mortally wounded in the Battle of Chrysler's Field.

As a politician, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland from 1805 to 1807, and in the Maryland state senate from 1807 to 1809.

He died at Frenchs Mills, N.Y., November 14, 1813. He was originally interned in an unknown location. In 1820 his body was reinterned at Mount Covington, Sackets Harbor, N.Y.