Copperheads

     Copperheads (also known as "Peace Democrats") were Democrats living in the North, and militant advocates of "peace at any price" and were active in some areas, especially among the working immigrants of large cities and in southern Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana. They were oftentimes perceived as Jeffersonians in a limited government who feared a war-induced growth of federal power. They were part of the Union and believed that peace should be achieved at any cost, though they used nonviolent methods of resistance such as resisting drafting laws, communicating with Confederate leaders, and aiding prisoners of war, to attempt to sabotage the war. Though it marred the name of the Democratic Party, the Copperheads carried on. Republicans called them copperheads, after the difficult to spot, venomous snake. However, they misinterpreted it as a term of honor and wore copper liberty-head coins as badges.