While some Copperheads were unquestionably dabbling in plots to overthrow the government, most were probably being truthful when they said they were loyal Unionists. In addition, groups opposed to … Republicans started calling anti-war Democrats “Copperheads” framing them as poisonous as a venomous snake (the pit viper Agkistrodon contortrix).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. The Union Army was a multicultural force—even a multinational one. Copperheads were Democrats, while Bushwhackers belonged to no side. Copperheads were part of a radical element of the Democratic Party during the Civil War. The men thought Copperheads did not believe in their cause, honor their suffering or respect the sacrifice of their fallen friends. Copperheads were those who were totally against the war, and denounced the president (the “Illinois Ape”) and his “nigger war.” The most famous of the Copperheads was Clement L. Valandigham, who harshly denounced the war but was imprisoned, then banished to the South, then came back to Ohio illegally, but was not further punished, At the extreme were the so-called Copperheads, named for the poisonous snake, which strikes without a warning rattle; Copperheads openly obstructed the war through attacks against the draft, against Lincoln, and especially after 1863, against emancipation. Copperheads were strongest in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. One-third of the soldiers who fought for the Union Army were immigrants, and nearly one in 10 was African American. Nearly all Copperheads were Democrats, but most Northern Democrats were not Copperheads.Copperhead strength was mainly in the Midwest (Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois), where many families had Southern roots and where agrarian interests fostered resentment of the growing dominance of industrialists in the Republican Party and federal government.. Northern Democrats who opposed the war were called Copperheads, after the poisonous snake. The copperhead's venom glands, venom ducts, fangs and venom evolved to allow them to kill mice and other prey animals. Copperheads may also ambush prey that enters the snake's hiding place, such as under a flat rock or piece of corrugated roof tin lying on the ground. Copperheads had an enormous effect on the Democratic Party, nearly taking control of it in 1864. The majority wanted to effect change at the ballot box, not at gunpoint. They bite a prey animal, inject venom, then quickly release the prey. Many opposed the Emancipation Proclamation. Copperheads. Division in the North Northerners were also divided over the war. They were first to claim that the north was not going to war on the basis of uniting the country, rather to free the slaves. The Copperheads were a group of political activists from the north that believed in an anti-war style of politics. The year before the Civil War actually erupted at Fort Sumter, the secession crisis was lead by some Democrats in the North. They were distressed about the 1862 elections, where Peace Democrats had performed quite well, gaining seats in the House, several state legislatures and the governorships of New York and New Jersey. They were people who opposed the use of paper currency. Copperheads were sympathetic to the Confederacy; they exploited public antiwar sentiment (often the result of a lost battle or mounting casualties) and tried to push President Lincoln to negotiate an immediate peace, regardless of political leverage or bargaining power. 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