Volume 12 , Issue 15

Copperheads of 1860s

Copperheads of 1860s We found this definition of Copperheads which states, "Copperhead was a pejorative epithet applied to Northern members of the Democratic party, also known as Peace Democrats, who criticized the presidential administration of Abraham Lincoln for its war policies and who sought an armistice with the Confederacy. A loosely-affiliated group, the Copperheads expressed their views on the war in the press, at political conventions, and in state legislatures.

It goes on to state, "Their views struck a responsive chord among like-minded Democrats in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio in the period 1862 to 1864, while their Republican opponents considered their ideas and alleged actions as nothing less than treason. BUT -- Not all those known as Copperheads supported the doctrine of secession, but as a group they found common cause in their objections to the actions of the Lincoln administration. Copperheads and other opponents of the war criticized President Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue."

Republicans started calling anti-war Democrats "Copperheads", likening them to the poisonous snake. The Peace Democrats accepted the label, but for them the copper "head" was the likeness of Liberty, which they cut from copper pennies and proudly wore as badges.

The Copperheads, besides being known as the "Peace Democrats," they were also known as "Doughface" -- a Southern sympathizer in the years before the war.

Although the Democratic party had broken apart in 1860, during the secession crisis Democrats in the North were generally more conciliatory toward the South than were Republicans. They called themselves "Peace Democrats."

A majority of Peace Democrats supported war to save the Union, but a strong and active minority asserted that the Republicans had provoked the South into secession; that the Republicans were waging the war in order to establish their own domination, suppress civil and states rights, and impose "racial equality" and that military means had failed and would never restore the Union.

Although the 13th Edition of The American Pageant makes a distinction between the two, as those termed Copperheads were at the extreme end of the Peace Democrats. The "Butternuts" were the other faction, named for the color of the Confederate uniforms. Perhaps the most famous Copperhead was Ohio's Clement L. Vallandigham.

Link sources:
* Illinois Copperheads and the American Civil War
* Copperheads (Peace Democrats) - civilwarhome.com
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