Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
I was asked a question today that I had to stop and give serious thought to. Do you think the Copperhead movement was a fith column? My first impulse was to say yes, but I had to stop and really look at it from the perspective of the time. The leaders of the Copperhead movement didn't think so, they didn't receive any real compensation for their views and I've not really seen any proof of collusion between the CSA and the leadership... But on the other hand their effect on the morale of the troops and those loyal to the Union was profound.
What do you think?
__________________ Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
This one is tricky for me. I do believe most of those folks involved in the Copperhead movement were honestly against the war and Lincoln's conduct of it and not a fifth column. I know of some papers in Columbus, Ohio, during the war that were considered Copperhead publications and such.
But, I also know that there were attempts by the Confederate spy service to contact and use the Copperhead movement to aid in the release of POWs from camps in the North. Seems like the South found the leaders of the Copperhead movements just bags of hot air, willing to talk a good fight, but not willing to do any action.
I'll try and dig up some links I had in the past on this subject and pass it on to you.
In the meantime, have a look at this poem about Copperheads during the war.
(Message edited by Unionblue on December 09, 2003)
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
Copperheads or the move lovely name of "Butternuts" were good Democrats who were as much against the industrial revolution overtaking our nation back then as the Civil War.
The Copperheads opposition show our political and government work well even during those dark days in the 1860's.
The "Butternuts" were no fifth column only healthy opposition to the ruling party of the day.
From Wiki:
Historian Kenneth Stampp has captured the Copperhead spirit in his depiction of Congressman Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana:
“There was an earthy quality in Voorhees, "the tall sycamore of the Wabash." On the stump his hot temper, passionate partisanship, and stirring eloquence made an irresistible appeal to the western Democracy. His bitter cries against protective tariffs and national banks, his intense race prejudice, his suspicion of the eastern Yankee, his devotion to personal liberty, his defense of the Constitution and State's rights faithfully reflected the views of his constituents. Like other Jacksonian agrarians, he resented the political and economic revolution then in progress. Voorhees idealized a way of life which he thought was being destroyed by the current rulers of his country. His bold protests against these dangerous trends made him the idol of the Democracy of the Wabash Valley. [Stampp, p. 211]
Off to ponder anti-war thoughts....
__________________
"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
Copperheads or the move lovely name of "Butternuts" were good Democrats who were as much against the industrial revolution overtaking our nation back then as the Civil War.
The Copperheads opposition show our political and government work well even during those dark days in the 1860's.
The "Butternuts" were no fifth column only healthy opposition to the ruling party of the day.
From Wiki:
Historian Kenneth Stampp has captured the Copperhead spirit in his depiction of Congressman Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana:
“There was an earthy quality in Voorhees, "the tall sycamore of the Wabash." On the stump his hot temper, passionate partisanship, and stirring eloquence made an irresistible appeal to the western Democracy. His bitter cries against protective tariffs and national banks, his intense race prejudice, his suspicion of the eastern Yankee, his devotion to personal liberty, his defense of the Constitution and State's rights faithfully reflected the views of his constituents. Like other Jacksonian agrarians, he resented the political and economic revolution then in progress. Voorhees idealized a way of life which he thought was being destroyed by the current rulers of his country. His bold protests against these dangerous trends made him the idol of the Democracy of the Wabash Valley.
Off to ponder anti-war thoughts....
To the Confederate friendly members.....
I am surprise none of one are running to support the Copperheads because their desire would have most likely have achieved your goal of an independent South.
Do you rave about them like you rave about Davis if the Copperheads had gotten some financial support from the boys south of the Mason/Dixon line maybe they could have defeated Lincoln politically.
When I read that description of Mr. Voorhee. I can now picture what all you pro-south people must be like. A bunch of grouchy men and women....
Off to find a happier crowd...
__________________
"States Rights are about States Wrongs" - Jesse Jackson
In every war or conflict the the US has entered since 1775 thru 2008, except WWII, there has been a sizable opposition against them. Some Loyalists during the Revolution went as far as fighting for the British. In many other wars Americans voiced their opposition and refused to serve. I believe in the First Amendment. That said, if citizens actually give aid and comfort to the enemy that is treason. Is there evidence that any Copperheads crossed that line and gave aid and comfort to the enemy?
__________________ "Those who forget to remember the past are condemned to repeat it", George Santayana.
Consider that Lincoln's funeral train did not retrace the entire route from Washington to Springfield. It diverted to miss Cincinnati because, as I understand it anyway, of concerns of violence or sabotage by copperheads in that area.
Does that qualify?
(photo: abandoned railroad right of way used by Lincoln's funeral train near Gettysburg, Ohio)
Copperheads or the move lovely name of "Butternuts" were good Democrats who were as much against the industrial revolution overtaking our nation back then as the Civil War.
I think there's more of a difference between Copperhead and Butternut, 5fish, if I'm not wrong. Copperheads were Northern anti-war democrats generally. My understanding is that butternut decsribes a CSA soldier or partisan who actually fought. It also describes an area of the country i.e. - southern Indiana, and northern Kentucky. Southern Ohio (Cincy area) and northern Kentucky were considered such also. The butternut region was called that supposedly because many of the folks in that part of the North were not particularly anti-war, but actively pro-South, many of them enlisting in Southern armies.
"What armies and how much of war I have seen, what thousands of marching troops, what fields of slain, what prisons, what hospitals, what ruins, what cities in ashes, what hunger and nakedness, what orphanages, what widowhood, what wrongs and what vengeance."
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