Who were the Copperheads?

In the 1860s, the Copperheads were a vocal faction of Democrats in the Northern states of the Union who opposed the American Civil War and wanted an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates.

Copperheadism was a highly contentious grass-roots movement. It had its strongest base in the area just north of the Ohio River as well as in some urban ethnic wards. Some historians have argued that it represented a traditionalistic element alarmed at the rapid modernization of society sponsored by the Republican Party and that it looked back to Jacksonian democracy for inspiration. The Copperheads were said to have damaged the Union war effort by opposing conscription(the "draft"), encouraging desertion and forming conspiracies.

Republicans started calling anti-war Democrats "Copperheads", likening them to the venomous snake. Those Democrats accepted the label, reinterpreting the copper "head" as the likeness of Liberty, which they cut from Liberty Head large cent coins and proudly wore as badges. By contrast, Democratic supporters of the war were called War Democrats. The Copperheads represented the more extreme wing of the Northern Democrats. Notable Copperheads included two Democratic Congressmen from Ohio: Clement L.Vallandigham and Alexander Long. Republican prosecutors accused some prominent Copperheads of treason in a series of trials in 1864.