Copperheads was a name given to a group of Democrats who criticized President Abraham Lincoln’s administration during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Loyal Unionists claimed the Copperheads were pro-Southern and reminded them of the venomous snakes with the copper-colored heads. Copperheads cut the head of Liberty from the copper cent and wore it proudly as a badge.
Copperheads opposed Lincoln’s attempts to free the slaves in the South. They spoke out against political arrests and the military draft and favored compromise with the Confederate States to end the war. The movement reached its peak early in 1863. But Union military victories and Republican election victories in 1864 helped to end the movement.
