Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North

• Author: Major Scott E. Dunn
• Pages: 10

2008] BOOK REVIEWS 173

COPPERHEADS: THE RISE AND FALL OF LINCOLN'S OPPONENTS IN THE NORTH1

REVIEWED BY MAJOR SCOTT E. DUNN2

Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the day of thy life.3

During the Civil War, President Lincoln's political foes may have threatened the Union almost as much as the military forces of the Confederacy. Democratic opponents of his war policies, so-called Peace Democrats, did not necessarily wish to see the Union divided by secession, but they opposed the effort to maintain the Union by force. Their opposition gave hope to Confederates, discouraged enlistment in the North, and incited active defiance of the federal government, thereby hindering the war effort. Or so argues Jennifer Weber in Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North, her fine and comprehensive analysis of the subject. Despite some minor shortcomings, I recommend Copperheads to anyone seeking an overview of domestic political opposition in the North during the Civil War.

Weber makes four primary points in this book. First, antiwar sentiment was not a "peripheral issue" during the war, contrary to the beliefs of many historians. Instead, antiwar sentiment was substantial and almost allowed Peace Democrats, commonly known as Copperheads, to take over the Democratic Party.4 Second, pervasive disagreement over the war divided towns and counties throughout the Union, at times erupting into violence.5 Third, antiwar activity "damaged the army's ability to conduct the conflict efficiently."6 Last, Weber argues that Union Soldiers were progressively politicized during the war and that their support of President Lincoln was critical to the ultimate victory of the Union.7

Weber clearly and succinctly describes the conduct and influence of the Peace Democrats over the course of the war, always mindful of the military developments that formed their backdrop. She demonstrates how a group that had great influence at times ultimately fell into disgrace and was viewed by many as traitorous. Though most Copperheads probably did not support secession, the inverse relationship between the political fortunes of the Copperheads and the success of Union armies led somewhat inevitably to suspicion of their motives. The term Copperheads, in fact, was first applied to them by a critic likening them to the serpent in the Garden of Eden.8 Copperheads co-opted the term, however, based on its alternate slang usage referring to coins bearing the likeness of Lady Liberty.9

One of the strengths of Copperheads lies in Weber's description of the disparate groups that coalesced into Peace Democrats and the development of antiwar sentiment. She divides the growth of the Copperhead movement into three phases corresponding with the following events or time periods: secession, the Emancipation Proclamation and the adoption of conscription, and the onset of simple war weariness in the North.10 Some opposed the war from the beginning because they believed that the Southern states had a right to secede. The Constitution, after all, did not forbid it.11 Others joined the ranks of the Peace Democrats after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in the fall of 1862 and the initiation of conscription the following spring. According to Weber, "[d]eeply racist Democrats who had supported the war when its only purpose was maintaining the Union jumped to the opposition when the confrontation became an effort to free the slaves. . .

. Others, already worried by growing government power, drew the line at the draft, which was the most coercive measure Lincoln had adopted to that point."12 The third and last wave of antiwar sentiment corresponded to pessimism wrought by the war's enormous human and materiel cost. This...