Coward was born in 1834 on Quenby Plantation outside of Charleston and graduated from the South Carolina Military Academy (now known as The Citadel) in 1854.

In 1855, Coward, with his classmate Micah Jenkins, went to Yorkville and established the Kings Mountain Military Academy in Yorksville, which was designed as a preparatory school for The Citadel.

He served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War in the campaigns of 1862 and Longstreet's campaign in Georgia and Tennessee.

In 1890, Coward became superintendent of The Citadel Military Academy in Charleston. The Citadel had great success under the leadership of Coward who was a respected and well-known educator. The effect of Coward's work on education overall resulted in the University of South Carolina to award him the honorary degree of doctor of laws in 1896. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Coward to the West Point Board of Visitors.

Coward died on April 28, 1925.