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Copperheads in Illinois
Daniel Morisette During the Civil War there were many ideas on what the North should do. Some people supported the war and were willing to fight. Some people opposed the war all together. There was a group of people who supported Lincoln, and there was a group who opposed him. Democrats caused a great deal of trouble for Lincoln. They blamed Lincoln and the Republicans for the hard time facing the country. They disliked the changes taking place in the North. Democrats, known as peace Democrats who were persistent about the Union not entering the war, were given the nickname "Copperheads," the name of a snake that strikes without warning. Also, the peace Democrats were given that name because of the actions of hard-money Democrats who were said to wear "copper pennies around their necks." When Lincoln was elected President, he faced many troubles, and one of the biggest was the Copperheads. Even though they formed their own group, they were still Democrats. Copperheads had a majority in Democratic party positions, and they had a major role in influencing decisions being made by the party. They also held the beliefs of the rest of the Democrats, many of whom did not want to free slaves. As the war went on, the Copperheads became more displeased with the war effort. They disliked the Republican economic policies, mainly the national banking system. The Copperhead's motto was, "The Constitution as it is, and the Union as it was." This showed that they wanted the nation to return to the way it used to be and to leave the South alone. People opposed Lincoln in all parts of the nation, but opposition was stronger in some areas than others. "In the midwest, however, it [Copperheadism] had a distinct sectional flavor, and there it made the headlines most often," according to historian Frank L. Klement. The practice of Copperheadism in this area of the nation became known as midwestern Copperheadism. It was the main source of the movement in the nation. As a result, many of the struggles involving the supporters of Lincoln and Copperhead opposition occurred in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Many Copperheads proclaimed that the "Lincoln Administration had sold its soul to the New York capitalists and New England manufacturers." Many famous people were midwestern Copperheads. One of the most famous Copperheads was Clement Vallandigham. Vallandigham was an Ohio Congressman who voluntarily gave up his seat in Congress to become a Copperhead. In a speech he wrote, he promised that he would never, "As a Representative in the Congress of the United States, vote one dollar of money whereby one drop of American blood should be shed in a Civil War." Vallandigham was also a strong supporter of western sectionalism. "I am not a Northern man, nor yet a Southern man; but I am a Western Man by birth .... I became a Western Sectionalist, and so shall continue to the day of my death." The Copperheads became more powerful. They obtained more and more party positions. The numbers of general members grew, too. Copperheads were not the only people disloyal to the Union. Since there was so much disloyalty, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, or the right of a person to see a judge for an investigation of a restraint of a person's liberty. The suspension of this law caused many arguments and trouble around the nation. As the Copperheads grew more numerous, people who supported the war began to worry. Copperheads "sought to gain control of the political machinery and to turn the populace against the party in power," wrote Klement. Copperheads were starting to do just that. Lincoln and the rest of the nation came to believe that the Copperheads were too powerful. "Warnings were issued that for every conspiring Copperhead, there was a tree or a lamppost from which if need be, he could be hanged," wrote another historian, Wood Gray. When Copperheadism in the West started to peak, many westerners were shocked when General Ambrose E. Burnside arrested Clement Vallandigham. The Copperheads were outraged at this. Violence broke out across the Midwest. Copperheads not only terrorized individuals, but attacked entire communities. Such attacks prompted a list called "the crimes of the Copperheads." Civilians were not the only people mobbed by the Copperheads. For example, the 54th Illinois regiment was attacked by Copperheads. The Copperheads were led by Sheriff John H. O'Hair. As a result six Union soldiers were killed and four were wounded. Five Copperheads were killed and five were wounded. Many Copperheads were jailed because of such violence. In Illinois, 2,001 Copperheads were arrested between June 1 and October 10, 1861. The Copperheads were very upset with these arrests. Many Copperheads were also charged with another offence: influencing desertion in the armies. At the end of the war, it was estimated that there were 13,046 deserters. Many of these were probably influenced by Copperheads. Copperheadism peaked when the chances of Union victory looked bleakest. As the tides of war turned to favor the Union, Copperheads started to
lose elections and their Democratic Party positions. However, they had been influential in their prime.—[From John Blanford, Awesome Almanac Illinois; Arthur Charles Cole, The Era of the Civil War, 1848-1870; Eric Foner, ed., The Reader's Companion to American History; Wood Gray, The Hidden Civil War; Robert P. Howard, Illinois: A History of the Prairie State; Frank L. Klement, Copperheads in the Middle West; James M. McPherson, ed., War Chronicles of the Civil War.]
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