Copperheads

So, what was a Copperhead? In the Civil War, it was a demeaning term by Unionists in the North who claimed traitors from the South intended to find ways of disrupting the solidarity of the country. 

A "Copperhead" was a southern Democrat who favored secession, slavery and unlimited states rights. No federal government was good enough. The expansion of slavery into the Kansas-Nebraska territories was firm fodder for those who disparaged "Copperheads."

Any relation to the poisonous snake might apply. If you lived in the North, you did NOT WANT to be called a Copperhead. Virtually every family had a soldier or more in the Civil War.

Here's a bit from a Brookville Union-advocating newspaper National Defender in 1864:

What is a Copperhead?

The New Orleans Times gives the following definition.

1. A Copperhead as we view this animal is a Northern man who, born bred or fostered in the Union, has no faith in the Union, and divides his faculties, influence and energies to perpetuate the destruction of the Union.

2. A Copperhead is one who living out of the rebellious States, believes in the cause of rebellion but has not pluck enough to strike a blow for it.

3. A Copperhead is a Northern man who to further secession doctrines, would stab a Union soldier in the back while he was fighting the enemies of the Union.

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Notes here: The 2015 section of this blog has several items relating to the Civil War and how it impacted Fairfield. Check it out on the menu --------------------------> HERE.