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Origin of butternut and copperhead.
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ORIGIN OF
BUTTERNUT. AND COPPERHEAD

ALBK&fi MATfHk#S

ORIGIN OF
BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD

BY
ALBERT MATTHEWS

REPRINTED FROM
THE PUBLICATIONS OF
€fce Colonial £octet£ of Sfizemtyumtg
Vol. XX <

CAMBRIDGE
JOHN WILSON AND SON
Ws]t gSnibersitg 13«sa
1918

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ORIGIN OF
BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD

Though half a century has elapsed since the close of the Civil
War, during which the above terms (in the sense here discussed)
arose, yet even now their origin and history remain obscure. In
deed, Butternut is sometimes wrongly explained by historians, and
has received scant attention from lexicographers and writers on
Americanisms; while the origin of Copperhead is still a matter of
dispute. Hence an investigation into the history of the terms will
prove instructive and of interest both in itself and as showing the
curious ways in which words undergo changes in meaning.
In their American History, published in 1914, Arthur C. Perry,
Jr., and Gertrude A. Price write:

206 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
There were many people even in the North who did not believe in the
war. They really sympathized with the South and rejoiced when the
Federal arms met reverses. These people were given the name of Cop
perheads because many of them wore as a badge the head of the Goddess
of Liberty, cut out of an old-fashioned copper cent.
Quoting this passage in the Nation of February 28, 1918, W. P.
Reeves said*.
Such a perversion of notorious facts, with the implication that the
Copperheads wore a badge of loyalty made of a Federal coin, requires
proof. A questioning child, referred to the usual explanations of terms
to be found in such available authorities as Webster's "International,"
the "Century," the "International Encyclopedia," and the "New Eng
lish Dictionary," will find nothing to suggest, much less substantiate,
this origin of Copperhead. Will Mr. Perry, or any one else who believes
his statement, kindly print his proof ? 1
On March 14 Mr. Perry replied as follows:
I have noted the letter by W. P. Reeves in the Nation of February 28,
1918, questioning the statement in Perry-Price "American History,"
Second Book, page 198, that many Copperheads of Civil War times wore
as a badge the Liberty bead cut out of an old-fashioned cent.
The statement is confirmed by Bassett, " Short History of the United
States," p. 582; Hart, "Essentials in American History," p. 472;.Hosmer,
"Outcome of the Civil War," p. 4; Rhodes, "History of the United
States," IV, p. 247.
Moreover, the International Encyclopaedia, to which Mr. Reeves ap
peals, in its new edition of 1914, Vol. VI, p. 61, says:
" Another explanation of the name is that it came from the habit of
the extreme opponents of the war wearing as a badge a button cut out
of a copper cent on which was the head of the Goddess of Liberty." 2
It is to be noted, however, that while Messrs. Hart, Hosmer,
and Rhodes do confirm the statement that such badges were
» cvi. 236.
1 cvi. 291. In the same issue a correspondent says: "It is the copperhead
snake which Ohioans had in mind when they invented this epithet for their dis
loyal neighbors — and I- think there is no doubt that it was invented in Ohio"
(pp. 291-292). That the word "was invented in Ohio" may be true, but is
probably incapable of proof, and the earliest known instance is from Illinois in
reference to Indiana.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 207
worn,1 neither of them offers any opinion as to the origin of the
term, and that Mr. Bassett is the only one who maintains that
the Copperheads were so called because they wore such badges.2
Thus the statement made in American History is corroborated by
Mr. Bassett's assertion, but the latter is unsupported by proof.
Nor, it may be observed, do the extracts quoted in the Oxford
English Dictionary, in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms,
in Thornton's American Glossary, or in Farmer and Henley's
Slang and its Analogues, throw any light on the origin of the
term. The examination here undertaken not only places beyond dispute
the origin of Butternut and Copperhead, but introduces us to two
or three expressions which have apparently escaped historians and
lexicographers alike. The subject may be divided into three sec
tions: (1) the words Butternut and Copperhead; (2) the Butternut
and Copperhead badges; and (3) Copperhead snakes and Black
snakes. No hard and fast line can be drawn between the sections,
which naturally overlap one another to a certain extent; but the
division will prove convenient. I
The Words Butternut and Copperhead
The Chicago Tribune of September 24, 1862, printed this item:
"ASP" John Pettit has been nominated for Congress by the Copper
heads of the 8th Indiana district" (p. 2/5); and the same paper of
September 29, under the heading "What a Democratic Journal
Thinks," stated that "The Carbondale (Jackson county) Times takes
strong grounds against the recent Copperhead convention of this
state" (p. 2/2). The word also occurs in the Cincinnati Commer-

1 Mr. Hart merely states that the badges were worn; Messrs. Hosmer and
Rhodes say that they were worn at a meeting held in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, May 1,
1863. * "Meanwhile, 'Copperheads' appeared. The epithet was applied by their
enemies to all Democrats; but it should properly be given only to those extreme
opponents of the war who went so far as to seem by their agitation to give aid
to the South. The name came from the habit of wearing as a badge a button
cut from the head of a copper cent, on which was the head of the Goddess of
Liberty. The movement began late in 1862" (Short History of the United
States, 1913, p. 582).

208 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [APRIL,
cial of October 1 1 and 14.2 On October 15, under the heading
"Butternuts," the Columbus Crisis asked: "Will the Cincinnati
Commercial and Gazette inform us who are the 'Butternuts' now?
Any boobies about those offices?"3 In the Cleveland Herald of
October 16 appeared these items:
A BUTTERNUT LAMENT.
A Democrat this morning, in looking over the returns from the Toledo
District, discovered that had the Democrats all through the district
stuck to Phelps, he would have been elected. Our "butternut" friend
exclaimed: "What a pity we lost that district." 4
Who threw that brickbat? One of our most prominent Democrats,
on hearing from the Lorain District, instructed one of the hatters to
import immediately a large invoice of "butternut" colored hats.5
1 Writing in 1899 Mr. Rhodes said:
"I have made and had made a considerable search for the first use of the term
'Copperhead.' The earliest that I have found it employed is in the Cincinnati
Commercial of Oct. 1, 1862, in an article entitled. 'Comfort for "Copperheads."'
The writer charges the Gazette (a rival Republican journal) with a course which is
'driving the' fighting Democrats into the ranks of the Vallandigham party.' In
the Commercial, when used afterwards, Copperhead is printed without the Quota
tion marks. It occurs several times in October, November, and December, 1862.
The curious may also find several illustrative uses of the word in the Chicago
Tribune, Jan. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 22; N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 12, Feb. 11; N. Y. Times,
Feb. 13. Robert C. Winthrop in Boston, Nov. 2, 1864, spoke as if he were not
ashamed of the name. 'Abandon the Constitution,' he said, 'and the Ship of
State is left tossing upon a shoreless sea, without rudder or compass, liable at
any moment to be dashed to pieces on the rocks. And though I have no heart
for pleasantry on such a topic, let me add that if in such a case the good ship shall
escape such a catastrophe and be rescued from final wreck, it will be only because
she will have been treated in advance to a thorough sheathing of copper from stem
to stern'" (History of the United States, iv. 224 note).
The "pleasantry" was not original with Winthrop, occurring as early as Octo
ber 22, 1862: see p. 209, below. A file of the Cincinnati Commercial is not acces
sible in Boston or Cambridge. I have examined the Chicago Tribune for Sep
tember-December, 1862, and January 1-22, 1863; the Crisis from September,
1862, to May, 1863, both included; and various other papers and magazines dur
ing the first few months of 1863.
2 See p. 209, below.
3 ii. 300. The Crisis was a weekly Democratic paper published at Columbus,
Ohio, by Samuel Medary (1801-1864), who had been territorial Governor of Min
nesota in 1857-1858 and of Kansas in 1859-1860. Many of the extracts from other
papers quoted in the text were reprinted in the Crisis and have been obtained
from that source.
' Crisis, October 22, ii. 312. « Ibid.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 209
The Democrat who sent us that pair of butternut breeches is politely
informed that we don't wear breeches; we have put on sackcloth.1
BUTTERNUT A FAST COLOR.
That's what a straight out Democrat said this morning. And, by the
way, the color is striking in on some of those Democrats who have
favored the Union movement. We begin to think butternut is a fast
color, it is spreading fast just now, and Democrats who on Monday were
Union men, are now claiming to be the original butternuts.2
In the Crisis of October 22 appeared the following:
"Butternuts."
The Ohio State Journal, true to its instincts, denominates the Demo
crats of Ohio in its election tables "Butternuts." We said all the time,
that the election was white vs. black. White walnuts against black wal
nuts. The Journal now admits the race to have been one between the
negroes and white men.3 The Commercial no Prophet.
In the Cincinnati Commercial of the 14th, the morning of the election
day, we have the following editorial:
"The Wat it Looks — It looks very much as if the Trinity of the Adoration
(we borrow a phrase from the Hon. George H. Pendleton,) of the Copperheads
of Ohio, VaUandigham, Pendleton and Cox,1 would be obliterated by the election
of this day . . ."
Now, I would propose a slight amendment of the above, which, being
adopted, might still save the reputation of the Commercial as a good
judge of men, and wisely gifted in the sequence of events. Instead of
calling these gentlemen "Copperheads to be elected and stay at home
and sweat," that it read, three good Copper bottoms selected not to stay
at home &c.5
The Dayton Empire of about this date asked:
Does the Commercial remember anything about the Fourth of July
Convention, of which it said Vallandigham and Medary were the "rul
ing spirits;" that Convention of "Butternuts," if you please, over which
1 Crisis, October 22, ii. 312. 8 Ibid.
' ii. 305.
4 Clement Laird Vallandigham (1820-1871); George Hunt Pendleton (1825-
1889); Samuel Sullivan Cox (1824-1889).
6 Crisis, October 22, ii. 310.

210 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS LApril,
Sam. Medary presided, and at which Vallandigham was the principal
speaker ? 1
The following appeared ,in the Ashland (Ohio) Union late in
October or early in November: Election Returns.
The "secessionists" have carried Ohio by several thousand.
The "Copperheads" have carried Pennsylvania by several thousand.
The "Knights of the Golden Circle" have carried Indiana by several
thousand. We use these epithets in order to make the Republicans blush, in the
light of the election returns, for their infamous abuse of the ever-patri
otic and loyal Democracy.2
Under the heading "The Ohio State Journal Joining the 'Butter
nuts,'" the Crisis of November 5 remarked: "The following is about
as severe a commentary on the heartless conduct of the authorities
at Washington as anything we have seen in papers the Journal
delights to call 'secesh.' Had it appeared in The Crisis, the Journal
and such like papers would have cried out 'suppress the secesh sheet' " s
The November elections caused the Copperheads much rejoicing.
"This county," said a letter dated Majority Point, Sumpter Town
ship, Cumberland County, Illinois, November 6, "gives the Demo
crats 5000 majority. Greatest Democratic majority ever given in
this county. This township gives 119 Democratic majority. Hurrah
for the ' Butternuts.' " 4 The Holmes County Farmer thus described
an entertainment at Millersburg, Ohio:
Great Democratic Jubilee! — Little Holmes on a "Bender!"
. . . But we have not touched upon the f antastics. — This was a pro
cession representing men and women, black and white, masked, with all
kinds of odd clothing, on their way from Oberlin up Salt River. A big
transparency was carried in front: "Oberlin Republicans." Then came
a host of transparencies with the following mottoes: "For Salt River."
" Poor Massa Welker." " Damn de Butternuts." B

1 Crisis, October 29, ii. 315. The word Butternut does not appear to have
been employed at the time the convention was held.
2 Crisis, November 5, ii. 328.
3 ii. 325.
4 Crisis, November 12, ii. 332.
B Crisis, November 19, ii. 344.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 211
Our next extract brings prominently upon the scene one who was
not only the head and front of the Copperheads, but also the one to
whom was largely due the later adoption of that name by the Copper
heads themselves, and from a speech by whom the hint was taken
of a copperhead badge. This account is taken from the Dayton
Empire: Ladies' Compliment to Mr. Vallandigham.
A "Butternut" Party — Cane Presentation.
At a handsome entertainment given on Friday evening, November 21,
by Judge Morse, at his residence near Dayton, an elegant gold-headed
cane, with a suitable inscription, was presented by the ladies to the Hon.
Clement L. Vallandigham. . . .
At the conclusion of the ceremonies the ladies and gentlemen partook
of an elegant supper worthy of the host and accomphshed hostess, and
of the good old "Butternut" hospitality of former days.1
Reviewing the evidence thus far given, we see that, as applied
to Democrats, Copperhead was used in September and Butternut
in October, 1862; that both words were originally employed by
the Republicans in contempt; that, doubtless largely owing to the
success of the Democrats in the October and November elections,
the word Butternut was more or less humorously adopted by the
Democrats themselves; but that the use of the word Copperhead
wasl still confined to the Republicans. Early in 1863 the word
Copperhead, which until then had perhaps been confined to, or
chiefly employed in, Illinois and Ohio, rapidly spread and soon
became general. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune of January 6,
1863, reads in part as follows:
LITTLE FEAR OF THAT.
The friends of the country, hence the enemies of the rebels and the
rebellion, annoy us with an expression of their fears that the Illinois
Legislature, now about organizing, containing, as everybody knows, a
considerable majority of our political opponents, will attempt some law
less and violent revolutionary movement, having for its double object
the destruction of the power and influence of the Federal Government
in the State, and the nullification, if not the complete overthrow, of the
authority of the State Administration. . . . We do not doubt, and have
not for a long time doubted, that there are certain "copperheads," a
1 Crisis, December 3, ii. 358.

212 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
few of whom are in the assembling Legislature, whose venom is so ran
corous, whose scruples are so few, and whose sense is so httle, that they
will do anything or dare everything which promises them an oppor
tunity to wreak their vengeance on the policy that they hate and on
those by whom that pohcy is to be carried out. . . . The knowledge
that an outbreak in the North would bring upon those engaged therein
an avalanche of troops, to whom a "copperhead" is only another name
for a rebel, . . . will cause many a malignant who has treason and
murder in his heart, to be content with impotent gnashing of the teeth
and muttered curses that he dare not embody in deeds (p. 2/1).
"But we have yet to see," said the same paper of January 7, "the
'copperhead' journal that is not filled, day after day, with articles
bitterly denunciatory of the President, his Cabinet, the Republican
Party, the War Democrats and the Abolitionists, for their alleged
violation of the 'Constitutional rights of the South'" (p. 2/2).
Under the heading "New Jersey," the New York Tribune of January
12 said that "The more malignant Copperheads of this State are
calling upon their new Legislature to prohibit the immigration of
slaves whom the war has converted or may convert into freemen"
(p. 4/6). "For all we can learn," stated the Chicago Tribune of
January 20, " Copperheadism takes an even more sneaking shape
in Indiana than in this State" (p. 2/1). A cartoon in Harper's
Weekly of January 31 represents Vallandigham, James Brooks, and
John Van Buren before a door labelled " J DAVIS," and underneath
are the words:
RECEPTION OF THE COPPERHEADS AT RICHMOND.
Copperhead Spokesman. "Be so good as to announce to Presi
dent Davis that a few of his Northern friends wish to see him.
Pompet. "De President desire me to say dat you is mistaken,
Gemmen. He have n't got no friends at de Norf ; and when he wants
any, he won't choose 'em among de Peace Sneaks." x [Exeunt Copper
heads considerably abashed.] — (Vide Davis's Message.) 2
The Cincinnati Daily Gazette of February 5 asserted that the
rebels "hope for a co-operation from the 'copperheads' of Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois, to whom, through the prostituted medium of
1 On the word "sneak," see p. 236 note 1, below.
2 Harper's Weekly, vii. 80.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 213
the Legislature they always send their traitorous greetings" (p. 1/3);
and, under the heading "What the Rebels Hope of Northern Copper
heads," said that "The Richmond Dispatch is much pleased with
the election of the Copperhead Richardson * as United States
Senator from Illinois" (p. 3/2). An editorial entitled "The Copper
head Conspiracy," and a news item headed "The Illinois Copper
head Legislature Rampant," appeared in the New York Tribune of
February 14 (pp. 4/2, 5/3). In an editorial in the New York Times
of February 13 entitled "The Western Copperheads — Duty of
Loyal Men," the terms "Copperhead majority" and "Copperhead
movements" were employed. This item appeared in the New York
Herald of February 16: "Meeting of the Extremes. — The
Tribune (abolition radical) thinks that Mr. Seward would have done
well to accede to the peace conference with the rebels, and the World
(democratic copperhead radical) is of the same opinion" (p. 4/6).
The following interesting essay is taken from the Crisis of February
25, 1863, reprinted from the Cincinnati Enquirer:
Politics and Science — Butternuts and Democrats.
It has been the custom of late, among a certain class of abolitionists,
to call the Democrats by the name of " Butternuts." This nickname is
likely to be of as much advantage to our party, as the epithet Quaker
and Methodist has been to the once despised, but now influential, re
ligious bodies bearing these titles. There is something in the word,
"Butternut," that is rather pleasing; and there is much in the historical
associations connected with the White Walnut tree, of which Butternut
is the synonym, to endear it to the backwoodsman. When the writer
was a boy, this tree supplied the coloring matter for nearly all the fabrics
worn as clothing by the western people. Imported dyes, like imported
wearing apparel, were then equally unknown in the West.
When the midnight war-cry of the Indian roused the mothers in Ohio
from their slumbers, it was the brave "Butternut-clad sons of Ken
tucky" who rushed across to the rescue. "Butternut" was then no
epithet of reproach in the West.
This costume is still worn in the mountain ranges of Kentucky and
Tennessee, and in Southern Illinois and Missouri. On the gathering
together of the soldiers, at the outbreak of the war, the fresh recruits
from these districts appeared in the ranks with garments of Butternut-
colored cloth. In derision their "store-clothed" companions called them
1 William Alexander Richardson (1811-1875).

214 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
"Butternuts;" and, as they were mostly Democrats, from Democratic
districts, the name, ere long, was applied, by the Repubhcans, to the
whole Democratic party.1
But this Butternut costume was not limited to one side, it being com
mon to both rebels and loyal soldiers. The epithet was used with the
greater zest by the Abolitionists, because the earher rebel prisoners were
dressed in "Butternut," and its application to the Democrats, they ex
pected would not only fasten upon them an opprobrious name, but
convey the impression also that they were in sympathy with the rebels.
So much for history. Let us now examine this term of reproach in the
fight of science.
The White Walnut tree has the generic name in Botany of Juglans,
or the Tree of Jove.*
* Juglans (Lat. Jovis glans,) i.e., the Nut of Jove: a name given it by way of
eminence. — Wood's Botany, page 640.

1 The assertion that Northern soldiers were called "Butternuts" at the out
break of the war is of interest. Is it correct? Writing in 1853 Mrs. Stowe said:
" I seem to have so much to fill my time, and yet there is my Maine story waiting.
However, I am composing it every day, only I greatly need living studies for the
filling in of my sketches." The "Maine story" was the Pearl of Oct's Island,
"the first seventeen chapters of which," according to Mrs. Fields (Life and Letters
of H. B. Stowe, pp. 168, 170, 285), "appeared in April of this year'' — that is,
1861. This is a slight mistake, since the first chapter was printed in the Inde
pendent of January 3 and the seventeerith in the issue of April 4, after which
the story was not resumed until December 3, 1861. Hence the following words,
which occur in the first chapter, were written certainly before 1861 and perhaps
as early as 1853: "The old fishermen stood upon the wagon, his coarse butternut-
colored coat-flaps fluttering and snapping in the breeze." This extract (quoted
in the Oxford English Dictionary, but with date of year only) is the earliest
known with reference to clothes. On March 22, 1862, "The butternut gentry,"
meaning Confederate prisoners, were mentioned (Bartlett's Dictionary of Ameri
canisms, 1877, p. 88). On June 11, 1862, a Confederate soldier was called an
"ambitious butternut" (ibid.). After the battle of Antietam (September 17,
1862) a story went the rounds to the following effect. A Maryland soldier named
Joe Parsons was blinded by a shot, and, meeting a rebel soldier, this conversation
tookplace: '"Who be yer,' said I, 'a rebel?' 'You're a Yankee.' 'SoIam,'says
I. . . . 'Well,' says I, 'you're a rebel; but will you do me a. little favor?' 'I will,
says he, 'ef I can.' Then I says, 'Well, old butternut, I can't see nothin'. My
eyes is knocked out, but I ken walk.'" Parsons then takes on his shoulders the
"old butternut," who promptly directs him to the Confederate camp. (Crisis,
December 31, 1862, ii. 391.) A letter dated Murfreesboro', Tennessee, January
30, 1863, said: "The 'Butternut' coat and pants, and the unbleached cotton and
woollen shirts have, even when new, a dirty, untidy appearance — especially
when placed side by side with the deep and sky blue uniforms of our army"
(Cincinnati Daily Gazette, February 5, 1863, p. 1/1).

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 215
We thank our Abolition neighbors for this name. It indicates that
the "Butternuts" are the heaven-ordained party, deriving their power
and influence from Omnipotence. But not only is the tree significant
of the near relation of the Democrats to the power that controls the fate
of nations; the fruit is also emblematic of the innate sentiments and
affections of the party. On removing the outer hull and sawing the nut
into two parts, near the center, the most elaborate ornamentation is
presented. The annexed stereotype cut is taken from the surface of a
section of the nut itself, without alteration from its original structure.
It exhibits the typical form of the species:

[Cross-section of the Butternut, exhibiting its
interior structure].
Look closely at the central area. It presents two hearts, united at the
base, and may well justify the exclamation uttered when the discovery
was made:
"Two hearts — the Northern and Southern — united at the base, and
bound together indissolubly only in the 'Butternuts!'"
Again we thank the Abolitionists for bestowing this name upon us.
"Old Hickory" was not more potent, as applied to General Jackson,
than will be, in the future, the term "Butternuts," as applied to the
Democratic party. Our tree designates us as the favorites of Heaven,
while we are represented in its fruits as uniting the Northern and
Southern hearts; and thus are we foreshadowed, in the "Butternut,"
as destined to restore the Union and the Constitution, as formed
by the great hearts of the North and the South at the Revolution.
This glorious work, now every-where prayed for by a suffering people
— but impossible in the hands of those who are clamoring for the
shedding of additional rivers of blood — can only be accomphshed by
the "Butternuts."
Look also at the rampart surrounding the central area, and see how
its jagged buttresses render it impenetrable to an assailing foe, and give
perfect security to the united hearts intrenched within. So is it with
the Democratic party. It has the rights of the people enshrined in its

216 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
heart, and will resist the aggressions of every foe to constitutional free
dom, and present an impenetrable barrier against foreign assaults.1
Up to the middle of February — or nearly five months after its
first appearance — the use of the word Copperhead seems to have
been confined to the Republicans. But in a speech made at Newark,
New Jersey, on February 14, Vallandigham said:
There are those here who can testify to the iniquitous despotism of
this administration. . . . They are here free as air — no bastiles con
fining them. New Jersey has spoken on these questions. The people
of the Northwest I am not fearful of. There are others here from the
Northwest, all "Butternuts," "Copperheads," like myself (cheers),
who can speak of the public opinion of that section.2
Vallandigham's adherents were not slow in following his example.
The Crisis of March 11 remarked: Political Names.
The editor of the New York Express, who has had twenty-five years'
experience of fighting the Democracy, says :
THE COPPERHEADS.
"If there be anything the Democrats can stand, without wincing or wilting,
it is hard names: and what is curious, these hard names become the slogans of
their party, and afterward intensely popular. . . . Now, the Abolitionists are
christening the Democrats 'Copperheads,' and if they persist in it, we should
not be at all surprised to find Copperhead a word as popular as Democracy, for
whatever Abolitionism clings to or embraces it kills, and whatever it nicknames
it makes a shibboleth in popularity of. We, old line Whigs, then, and Demo
crats, accept the name of 'Copperheads.' Consider us 'Copperheads.' Call us
'Copperheads.'" Copperheads, then, let it be! It's a very expressive designation.3
A letter dated Glens Falls, New York, March 4, said that "The
entire Democratic ticket for village officers was elected by an average
1 Crisis, iii. 39.
2 New York World, February 16, p. 2/1. Commenting on Vallandigham's
speech, the New York Times of February 17 said: "Yet even this 'copperhead'
traitor is compelled, by the force of public sentiment, to declare himself in favor
of the Union" (p. 4/4).
3 Crisis, iii. 55. James Brooks (1816-1873) was the editor of the New York
Express.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 217
majority of 40. 'Copperhead' stock is rising and 'Leatherhead'
falling." 1 In the Crisis of March 25 appeared the following:
Resolutions of the Democratic Club at Zanesville.
Whereas, Colonel Connel did say, at a meeting held in this city, at
Oddfellows' Hall, on the 13th of March, that " such men as Vallandig
ham and Dr. Olds 2 should not be allowed to speak;" and
Whereas, Major Muse did, at the same time and place, say that
"Northern Traitors [an Abolition nick-name for Democrat, alias Butter
nut, alias Copperhead, alias Secesh, &c] ought to be hung up at their
door-posts;" and
Whereas Captain Geary did, at the same time and place, say that the
"Butternuts deserved to be placed on the rack, and to have their eyes
plucked out, their tongues cut out, and their finger-nails pinched off; " and
Whereas, This was applauded by those sympathizing with this lan
guage; therefore, be it
Resolved, by this meeting, that we hold up these men to the contempt
of all peace-loving, law-abiding citizens. . . .3
In the New York World of March 18 (p. 4/3) appeared the fol
lowing: COPPERHEADS.
The Times defines Copperheads thus:
Every American, whatever his opinions about slavery, who is for maintaining
the unity of the country at all costs, is literally and truly a loyal man. All others
are Copperheads.
1 Crisis, March 18, iii. 63.
s Dr. Edson Baldwin Olds (d. 1869), who late in 1862 had been placed in a
"bastile." "To drag a man of seventy from his house at night without legal
warrant, and take him summarily to Fort Lafayette, was a procedure likely to
set to thinking voters who were bred to liberty, especially as in this case the
victim was an intelligent man of high character, who had served his constituents
three terms in the legislature and six years in Congress " (Rhodes, History of the
United States, iv. 165). There is some doubt as to the exact age of Dr. Olds.
According to several biographical dictionaries he was born in 1819. The Amer
ican Annual Cyclopaedia for 1869 stated that he died January 24 " at Lancaster,
Ohio, aged about 66 " (p. 496). His father, the Rev. Gamaliel Smith Olds, was
born February 11, 1777 (Granville Vital Records, p. 61), graduated at Williams
College in 1801 (General Catalogue of Williams College, 1910, p. 35), married Julia
Whitney in 1812, and " had four children, three of whom died in infancy, and one
in the prime of manhood " (C. Durfee, Williams Biographical Annals,- 1871, pp.
137-139). 3 Crisis, March 25, iii. 65.

218 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
If this definition is just, then the Times must admit that Greeley is
the great " Copperhead."
On March 19, a New York Senator said: "If there is any one on
earth who will need the money, it is this class; and if the copper
heads don't run, and are drafted, I am willing they share in the
bounty." 1 A speech made by the notorious Jim Lane at Washing
ton on March 28 was thus reported in part:
There is an animal in this country that I despise much more than the
traitor in arms.
(A Voice. " The Copperhead ! ")
No ! I mean the cowardly skulk, the dirty miserable puppy, who will
remain in the loyal States receiving protection from them and yet strik
ing at the heart of the country.2
A letter dated Jackson, Ohio, April 7, stated that "The 'Butter
nuts' covered themselves with glory yesterday in this (Lick) town
ship with their 'usual ability.' . . . 'Butternuts' and 'Copper
heads' are far above par down in these hills." 3 A letter dated
Palmer, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, April 7, said that "Our election
in this township yesterday resulted in the entire success of the
straight 'Butternut,' 'Copperhead,' Democracy."4 Amid the
deluge of abusive language indulged in by both sides, it is pleasant
to find a lighter touch introduced into an article in Vanity Fair of
May 2: THE ORIGINAL COPPERHEAD
Although Copperheads, as a political sect, are of very recent date,
readers of romance will recollect that the first Copperhead of whom we
have any documentary evidence was the creation of Cervantes. When
the doughty Knight Errant, Don Quixote, was hard up for a head
piece, his constructive mind suggested to him the possibility of adapting
one out of a copper basin belonging to his barber. With this utensil
strapped firmly on his head, he performed great feats of valor, . . . [The
writer goes on to say that the Don was worsted in his fight against
1 Remarks of Hon. Mr. [Lyman] Truman, of the 24th District, on the Bounty
Re-Enlistment Bill, In the Senate [New York], March 19, 1863, p. 6.
2 Crisis, April 1, iii. 80. James Henry Lane (1814-1866).
3 Crisis, April 29, iii. 92.
* Ibid.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 219
"Wind-mill," who "battered his copper head."] ... It might be well
for our Copperheads here to take warning from his great prototype.1
The Milwaukee News late in April or early in May printed this
item: A Live Copperhead. — A regular live American eagle — the eagle of
classic fame and the national emblem of liberty — has found its way to
this city, and has been purchased by one of our prominent citizens, for
presentation to the Milwaukee Democratic Club. The head of the
bird is a shining copper color, and he measures eight feet from tip to
tip.2 The Crisis of May 13 stated that "When this immense crowd of
'Butternuts' came together" at Somerset, Perry County, Ohio,
"to hear the Hon. C. L. Vallandigham, the purpose for which they
had left their fields at this busy season of the year, it was estimated
at from eight to ten thousand people." 3 On July 3 an "inflamma
tory placard," signed "One of the People" and dated June 30, was
posted about New York city and "hung up in conspicuous positions
in some of the hotels:"
Attention! Major-General Halleck: . . . P.S. If you had
hung Vallandigham (as you ought to have done) and sent him to be
Governor of the copperheads in the infernal regions, you would not have
been troubled by the traitorous, cowardly, miserable sneaks and pol
troons, who are boring about him.4
This section may well end with an extract from the Crisis of
November 18: WHAT IS A COPPERHEAD?
The Hon. Levi Bishop, of Detroit, recently gave the following plump
answer to this question :
We often hear it said of Democrats, "He's a Copperhead, he's a
bitter Copperhead, shun him, cut him, don't countenance him, don't
give him business, ruin him, crush him, for he's an inveterate Copper
head." Well, what is a Copperhead? Our opponents are very fond of

1 Vanity Fair, vii. 37.
2 Crisis, May 6, iii. 120.
3 iii. 127.
4 In F. Moore, Rebellion Record (1864), vii, Poetry and Incidents, pp. 85-86.

220 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
coining names which they imagine to be severe or opprobrious. . . .
The term "Copperhead" is one of their choicest epithets.1
II
Butternut and Copperhead Badges
Though the etymology of Yankee has never been determined, it
is well known that the word was for about twenty years before the
outbreak of the Revolution applied in derision to the American
colonists. After the battle of Lexington, the Americans adopted it
themselves, and, in order to prove that the word was in reality one
of distinction, some imaginative person invented a tribe of Indians
named "Yankos," who were at last subdued by the New Eng
enders, and so, "agreeable to the Indian custom," had their name
transferred to their conquerors.2 Thus the pleasing conclusion was
reached that Yankos, corrupted into Yankee, meant "invincible;"
and by this easy method, what had hitherto been a derisive epithet
became a complimentary one. Similarly, the Copperheads, having
adopted that term, felt impelled to seek a more honorable origin for
their nickname than a snake.
The Butternuts and Copperheads had been so called for nearly
six months before there is any trace of their wearing a badge. But
in March, 1863, both butternuts and copperheads were worn as
badges. Quite possibly the use of a butternut as an emblem had
begun before this in Ohio, but the earliest allusion I have found is
the following:
MASS MEETING OF THE DEMOCRACY IN HAMILTON,
BUTLER COUNTY.
An Immense Assemblage of the People!
. . . The Democratic mass meeting in Hamilton, Butler county, on
Saturday, March 23, was an immense ovation, the people, male and
female, attending from all parts of the State, . . . the meeting re
minded us of the log-cabin demonstrations of 1840, when national en
signs, flags and banners flaunted to the breeze with Buckeyes attached,

1 Crisis, iii. 338.
2 This story, which went the rounds of the American newspapers, first
appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal of May 24, 1775.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 221
the difference being the substitution of Butternuts instead of the
Buckeye.1 As for the copperhead badge, its invention was presumably sug
gested by a passage in a speech made by Vallandigham in New York
city on March 7:
We hear much about state rights. Here is a piece of coin from the
mint of the sovereign State of Connecticut, coined by her, thus exercis
ing the highest power of the Constitution, and bearing date 1778.2
When the confederation was dissolved that state reverted back again
to sovereignty and coined money. I don't think it ever coined any
greenbacks. (Laughter.) They were a later invention. It is a copper
coin, with a copperhead3 upon it. (Applause. Three cheers for the
1 Crisis, April 1, iii. 74.
1 Doubtless a misprint for 1787. In another report of this speech, Vallan
digham is made to say:
"There, sir, is a piece of coin from the mint of the sovereign State of Connect
icut, coined by her, in the exercise of a high power of sovereignty, and bearing
date 1787. Yes, the Confederation was dissolved, and that State went back
again to its sovereignty and coined money. I believe it never issued any 'green
backs;' they were of a later invention. But here is the evidence of that great
fact, which designing men, consolidating empire here at the price of liberty, are
desirous continually to ignore. It is a copper coin with a copper head upon it.
(Great laughter and cheers for the Copperheads.) It is the head of Liberty.
(Renewed applause.) It bears the superscription and image of Freedom. It
reads, 'By the authority of the State of Connecticut'" (Crisis, March 25, iii. 66).
Vallandigham appears to have been fond of making unusual exhibits. In a
speech delivered in Congress on February 3, 1862, he said:
"Here, Sir, is one of the Continental bills of November, 1776. It bears small
resemblance to the delicate paper issues and exquisite engravings of the present
day in the United States. It smacks a little of the poverty of 'Dixie' — as is
said. Instead of the effigy of Lincoln, it bears on its face a veritable but rudely
carved woodcut of the wild boar of the forest. It was bad money, Sir, but issued
in a noble cause. It is redolent of liberty; it smells of habeas corpus, free speech,
a free press, free ballot, the right of petition, the consent of the governed, public
indictment, speedy public trial by jury, and all the great rights of poHtical and
individual liberty for which martyrs have died and heroes contended for ages —
although I am not quite sure, Sir, that even now it is altogether without some
what of the odor of rebellion lingering about it" (in Life, 1872, p. 178).
3 In the supplement to the 1911 edition of the Century Dictionary is the
definition: "4. A private token, equal to one cent, struck in the United States
during the Civil War." In his Dictionary of Numismatic Names, their Official
and Popular Designations, Albert R. Frey says: "Copperheads. A name com
monly applied to the tokens issued during the Civil War in the United States

222 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
copperheads.) But it is a head of liberty. (Applause.) It has the super
scription and the image of freedom. It says: "By the authority of the
State of Connecticut." That was its warrant for circulation.1

(1862-1865). In the latter part of the year 1862 the first of these copper tokens
were issued in Cincinnati, Ohio, and other western cities. Many of them have on
the obverse the Indian head copied from the United States cent, and this feature
probably gave them their name " (p. 54, American Journal of Numismatics, 1917,
1. 54. For this reference I am indebted to Mr. Horace L. Wheeler of the Boston
Public Library). No example of copperhead in this sense has been adduced.
The word was perhaps applied to any copper coin with a head on it: see the ex
tract dated April 15, p. 224, below. Thus a letter dated Washington, April 28,
1863, quoted in the Chicago Tribune of May 1, said:
COPPERHEADS.
The heavy coinage of "nickels" still continues, the number last week made
at the mint in Philadelphia being 53,000. When the people who are hoarding
them discover that they have no intrinsic value over thirty-seven or forty cents a
pound, and that they are a legal tender for amounts less than fifty cents only,
they will let the coppers loose in such loads as to make them a nuisance (p. 2/3).
By " nickels " are meant one-cent coins made of copper-nickel, first coined (of
that material) with head in 1858. What we now commonly call " nickels " — that
is, five-cent coins made of copper-nickel — were first coined in 1866. Perhaps,
therefore, the name " copperhead," applied to a coin with a head on it, was derived
from Vallandigham's speech of March 7, 1863.
Attention should also be called to the fact that the word Copperhead had been
used in other senses before the Civil War. Speaking of the Indian, De Vere says:
"Along the frontier line he was perhaps as frequently called a Copperhead [as a
Redskin], an ancient term of contempt, of which W. Irving makes frequent use
in his quaint History of New York" (Americanisms, 1872, p. 22); and proceeds
to quote two extracts. In both instances, however, Irving applies the term not
to Indians but to. the Dutch; moreover, Irving apparently uses the term only
twice, and the second instance was not introduced into his famous burlesque until
nearly forty years after its original publication. In the edition of 1809 we read:
"Then might be seen on their right hand, the vassals of that renowned Myn
heer, Michael Paw, . . . He brought to the camp a stout band of warriors, . . .
These were the men who vegetated in the mud along the shores of Pavonia;
being of the race of genuine copperheads, and were fabled to have sprung from
oysters" (bk. vi. ch. iv. vol. ii. pp. 104-105).
In the edition of 1848 occurs, apparently for the first time, this passage, refer
ring to the Dutch and the Yankees:
"Already, however, the races regarded each other with disparaging eye. The
Yankees sneeringly spoke of the round-crowned burghers of the Manhattoes
as the 'Copperheads;' while the latter, glorying in their own nether rotundity,
and observing the slack galligaskins of their rivals, flapping like an empty sail

New York World, March 9, p. 2/5.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 223
To some enthusiastic devotee, doubtless acting on the above hint,
occurred the idea of cutting out the head of Liberty from a copper
coin and attaching a pin to it. But this process was naturally labo
rious, and the next step was the manufacture of Copperhead badges
in large quantities. The following advertisement was printed in the
New York World of March 26:
(COPPERHEADS, ATTENTION!
THE COPPERHEAD* qr BADGE OF LLBERTY. NOW
READY. " Copperhead ! " is it? Let every White Man accept " the in
sult," and wear the grand old emblem of Liberty — the Copperhead!
Mailed, post paid, on receipt of 15 cents, or $10 per hundred by ex
press. All orders out of the city should be addressed at once to the
manufacturers,
BROMLEY & CO.,
Box 4265 New-York City.
S^*B. & Co. are allowed to refer to the editors of the New-York Cau
casian. All city orders should be left with P. J. Coyans, wholesale agent,
No. 122 NASSAU Street, where they are now ready for delivery to
city customers.1
against the mast, retorted upon them with the opprobrious appellation of 'Plat
ter-breeches'" (bk. vii. ch. i. p. 385).
It is hardly necessary to add that both terms were invented by Irving. In
1828 J. K. Paulding, referring to the dwellers on the western border of Tappan
See, settled by the Dutch, wrote: "Since the period of the first settlement of this
region, the only changes that have ever been known to take place, are those
brought about by death, who if report says true has sometimes had his match
with some of these tough old copperheads; . . ." (The New Mirror for Travellers,
p. 102, quoted in Thornton's American Glossary, i. 205). The Oregon Weekly
Times of October 10, 1857, said that "Dan had a hatred of 'copper heads,' as he
called the Indians, which was refreshingly orthodox" (also quoted by Thornton).
1 P. 5/6. This advertisement, with the exception of the final sentence, was
also printed in the Crisis of April 1, iii. 77. Bromley & Co., however, were not
the only manufacturers of the badges. In the New York World of March 27
(p. 5/2) another firm advertised:
COPPERHEADS!
COPPERHEADS, attention!
THE COPPERHEAD, or BADGE OF LIBERTY. NOW READY.
Let all White Men accept the insult, and wear the grand old emblem of Liberty.
The Copperhead Mailed, post paid, on receipt of 15 cents, or $10 per hundred by
express. All orders out of the city should be addressed at once to the original
manufacturers, A. C. BLONDIN & CO.,
New- York City Postoffice.

224 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
The Crisis of April 1 stated that Vallandigham was presented
with "a box, inside of which was a string of handsomely polished
butternuts interwoven by evergreen and red, white and blue rib
bons;" l and on its own behalf it acknowledged the receipt from
a correspondent in Mifflin township of "a powder keg full of butter
nuts." 2 In the same issue appeared the following:
Jt^The Bridgeport Farmer says they are going to make Copperheads
in Waterbury. — New Haven Paper.
By " Copperheads," politicians must not be understood, but a sort of
copper badge, representing the head of Washington for example. No
doubt they will be in demand. — Journal of Commerce.
These Copperhead breastpins now sell rapidly for a quarter, but cost
ing only three or four cents. The Democratic party unanimously is
adopting the "fashion." 3
In the same paper of April 15 we read:
" Copperheads."
As the Abolitionists gave the Democrats the name of "Copperheads"
for a mere, as they supposed, political effect, and to throw a stigma upon
opponents, it does not appear that they are making much out of it.
Copperheads have become objects of great value — emblems of
liberty — historic — classic — patriotic. The attempt to cast odium on
the Democrats is in this, like all other attempts of the kind, a complete
failure. At a sale lately in New York of a large collection of old coins, em
blems of our patriotic fathers, the "Copperheads" created the greatest
This aroused the ire of Bromley & Co., who inserted another advertisement in
the World of March 31 (p. 5/2): POLITICAL.
/COPPERHEADS, ATTENTION. — THE UN-dersigned are the original
*-' and sole manufacturers of the true COPPERHEAD BADGE OF LIB
ERTY, worn by the great Copperhead Party of the United States. Sold at
fifteen cents by the single badge, and mailed, or $10 per one hundred sent by
express. Terms cash. We are permitted to refer to the editors of the New-York
Caucasian. Beware of imposters who copy our advertisements. When you order,
write plainly your postoffice address, town, county, and state, and be very par
ticular, to address your letters thus: BROMLEY & CO., Manufacturers,
Box 4265, New-York City.
1 Crisis, iii. 74. 2 iii. 76 * iii. 79

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 225
interest. We extract from a description of the sale, that part which
relates to copper cents and half cents: . . .
That will do for "copperheads." A person just from Philadelphia
says that the young men of that city are giving as high as ten dollars
a piece for these old copper coins, which they have made into breast
pins, preserving the Head of Liberty in full view on the pin. Try
again, black snakes,1 and see if you cannot get something to suit your
selves if not us. These "copperheads" of Liberty are the true em
blems of the spirit and principles of our noble fathers and the natural
enemies of the "Loyalists" of that day, as they are of this. "Copper
heads" and "Loyalists" are the old terms, and exactly applicable to
the present times and designations of parties.2
A letter dated Brimfield, Ohio, April 7, said:
Yesterday the election went off finely in this Copperhead town —
120 Copperhead votes to 69 ?7mon-Republican or Abolition votes.
The small boys here are making Copper-heads by taking old copper
cents and cutting away all but the head, which leaves a copper head with
the word Liberty stamped upon the forehead. A very good representa
tion of the Democratic party.3
On April 29 the Crisis acknowledged, "from a young Democrat
of Connecticut, the receipt of a copperhead emblem of Liberty,
nicely cut from an old cent. It is cut out very neatly." 4 In a New
York magazine appeared these definitions of political terms:
Copperhead, Mulatto and Greenback Democrats.
There are now three kinds of democrats, according to the newspapers :
1st. The Copperheads — the original, simon pure kind — who are
so called from the copper head of liberty on the old cent of the United
States, which they have adopted as a fitting badge of their principles.
2d. Mulatto democrats, so called from the fact that they are a faded
type of black republicans.
3d. Greenback democrats, a set of political camp-followers, who
follow Lincoln for whatever spoils he may, from time to time, throw down
to them.8
A correspondent who signed himself G. Fritz thus complained in
the Crisis of May 6:
1 See pp. 230-235, below. i Crisis, iii. 89.
3 iii. 93. « iii. 108.
6 Old Guard, i. 93.

226 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [APRIL,
On the 24th of April I was maliciously robbed of a butternut by one
of the black Abolition clerks in Randall & Aston's Book Store. . . .
This butternut I carried for the good old prmciples which it represented
— union of hearts. And since we love the good old Union as our fathers
made it, and as the butternut represents that Union, we, as Democrats,
both high and low; rich and poor, are not ashamed to bear it on our
persons; because those who wear it desire the South united with the
North, and not inhumanly whipped out of the Union, as this Abolition
Administration has endeavored to do from the beginning. And I there
fore call this dastardly, impudent puppy of a clerk in the above named
book store a follower of tyranny and disunion.1
On May 1 occurred at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the meeting at which
Vallandigham made the speech which caused his arrest. The Crisis
of May 20 thus reported the meeting in part:
AN EXTRAORDINARY MASS MEETING
OF THE
DEMOCRACY OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO,
at
Mt. Vernon on the 1st inst.
From 15,000 to 20,000 Present!
The People Demanding their Liberties!
Mt. Vernon, Ohio, May 2, 1863.
To the Editor of The Crisis:
The Democracy of this county held a great Convention here yester
day, . . . Between ten and eleven o'clock, the long township proces
sions began to make their appearance. These were formed of wagons,
carriages, buggies, &c, ... A pleasing feature of each procession, was
the very many elegant flags on hickory poles — such as the Democracy
have always carried — the beautiful and glorious "Stars and Stripes,"
without the obliteration or obscuration of a single star. — A rather
novel and amusing, as well as significant and appropriate feature of
each procession, was the profusion of Butternuts, in wholes and in sections,
attached in a great variety of ways to the dresses of the men and ladies,
and of the boys and girls, to the horses and the banners. The "Copper
head," or Liberty Pins, were another noticeable emblem in the procession.
Strange to say, the wearers of these things seemed wholly unconscious
of treason (as defined in the Constitution) in thus exhibiting them.2
1 Crisis, iii. 117.
2 iii. 134. Another contemporary account says: "A remarkably large number

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 227
At the court-martial of Vallandigham on May 6, the following
questions were asked and answered:
Question by J. A. — What other flags or emblems were used in dec
orating the stage?
Ans. — There were banners made of frame work, and covered with
canvas, which were decorated with butternuts and bore inscriptions.
One banner, which was carried at the head of a delegation which came
in from a town in the country, bore the inscription, "The copperheads
are coming."
Mr. Vallandigham. — The South never carried copper cents.
Judge Advocate. — But butternuts are a Southern emblem.
Mr. Vallandigham shook his head, and said they were not.
Quest, by J. A. — Did you see any persons have emblems on their
persons? Ans. — Yes, I saw hundreds of persons wearing butternut and copper
head badges.
Mr. Vallandigham. — The copper badges were simply the head cut
out of the common cent coins, with pins attached.
Mr. Vallandigham. — Did you notice what inscription those copper
head badges bore?
Ans. — No, I did not look at them.
Mr. Vallandigham. — The inscription on them was "Liberty." x
Ques. — Did not one of the banners you refer to as decorated with
butternuts, bear the inscription, "The Constitution as it is and the
Union as it was?"
Ans. — The banners were numerous. One of them, I beheve, did
bear that inscription.2

of national flags, with all the stars of the Union as it was, on hickory poles,
formed a very prominent feature in each of these processions. A profusion of
butternuts and liberty or copperhead pins, Union badges, and other appropriate
emblems of Liberty and Union, were also distinguishable features" (in J. L.
Vallandigham's Life of Clement L. Vallandigham, 1872, p. 251).
1 Crisis, May 27, iii. 124. A full report of the trial is printed in Vallandig
ham's Life, pp. 262-284.
1 Crisis, iii. 125. In a speech made at Columbus on July 4, 1862, Vallandig
ham said: "To-day the cause of a free government has triumphed; a victory of
the Constitution, a victory of the Union, has been won, but is yet to be made
complete by the men who go forth from this the first political battle-field of the
campaign, bearing upon their banners that noble legend, that grand inscription
— The Constitution as it is, and the Union as it was" (Crisis, July 16, 1862,
ii. 194; Life, pp. 209-210).

228 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [ApRU.,
A cartoon in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper of May 23
represents a storekeeper giving a customer a blow in the face, and
underneath is the inscription:
WINNING AND WEARING.
Doubtful Citizen — Sir, do you sell Copperhead Badges? I want one.
Patriotic Storekeeper — This is the only badge you Copperheads
deserve. (Doubtful Citizen wears it for some days.) l
This section may appropriately end with an account, taken from
the Mt. Vernon Banner, of a —
Disturbance in Brownsville.
We had intended to make no reference to the late disturbance in
Brownsville, this county, inasmuch as the matter will probably be
brought into Court; . . . the facts . . . are simply as follows: It ap
pears that some Democratic boys who were in the village, wore on their
coat "butternut" badges, (two hearts united in one, emblematic of the
re-union of the North and the South under Democratic rule) were as
sailed by Abolitionists, who were manly enough to attack boys, but too
cowardly to go to war. . . . Miles Deakins, Esq., soon appeared in the
crowd . . . ordered the people to disperse, and took the Democratic
boys away. The Abolitionists, who were bent upon a muss, instead of
obeying the orders of the Justice, commenced abusing him in the most
scandalous manner, calling him a "butternut," "secessionist," a
"Knight of the Golden Circle," &c.2
Two contemporary representations of the copperhead badge are
here reproduced. One, facing this page, is a cartoon from Charles
Godfrey Leland's Ye Book of Copperheads, -probably drawn in or
about May, 1863; 3 the other, on page 229, is an advertisement on
the fourth page of the cover of "Copperhead Minstrel: A Choice
Collection of Democratic Poems and Songs, for the use of Political
Clubs and the Social Circle," published late in 1863 at New York.4
1 xv. 144.
2 Crisis, May 27, iii. 143. The Old Guard for June satirically remarked: "It
is said that the Loyal Leagues are issuing a splendid new badge, it being a negro's
head in India rubber, with this appropriate motto in silver letters: 'The Con
stitution be damned!'" (i. 143).
8 See p. 236, below.
4 From a copy in the Boston Public Library. A fourth edition of Copperhead
Minstrel was published in 1867, but without the badge on the cover. A pamphlet

' So much dishonor my fair stars." — King Richard III., IV. 1.

The traitor our Common Cents mars, And on Liberty plainly he wars,
Taking Freedom away from the Union, I say,
When he cuts out her head from the stars.
16

CARTOON IN YE BOOK OF COPPERHEADS, 1863
ENGRAVED FOR THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM A COPY IN THE BOSTON ATHENCUM

1918] OKIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 229

COPPERHEADS, ATTENTION!

The undersigned are the original maDufecturersof the" GENUINE

OR,

BADGE OP LIBERTY,
Made of PUBS OOPPEB. Highly Polished and Arttetto.

Every person in favor of Free Speech, a Free Press, and the Rights of
White Men, is wearing the Badge of Liberty.
Price. — Single Badges, 16 cents; 8 Badges, for $1 post paid; per
express $80 per 1000.
We ore permitted to refer to the Editors of the New York Caucasian
and the Editor of the " Freeman's Journal," New York City.
•' Copperheads !" keep «* the ball rolling on." Write " plainly " your
post-office address, County and State. Direct your letters thus :
BROMLEY & CO.
Box 4265 New- York City.
Wholesale Agents : FEEKS & BANCKER. No. 24 Aim Street
COVER OF COPPERHEAD MINSTREL. 1863

230 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Apbil,
III
Coppeehead Snakes and Black Snakes
It is obvious that a badge which was not invented until March,
1863, could have had nothing to do with the origin of a word which
had been in use since the previous September at least. Hence we
must look elsewhere for the origin of Copperhead. That the name
was derived from the copperhead snake may be mferred from the
fact that it was a term of opprobrium and for five months was em
ployed only by the Republicans. But we are not left to conjecture
on this point. Elated by the results of the fall elections, some of the
Democratic papers came out "with a rooster on the front page. The
Crisis did not follow this good old custom, but on October 22, 1862,
its editor acknowledged the receipt "by Express" from certain ad
mirers "of three splendid WHITE ROOSTERS, full of crow and
full of pluck! " 1 That the name Copperhead was derived from
the snake is proved by the unimpeachable evidence furnished by
a Copperhead paper. The Crisis of November 19, 1862, contained
this extract:
(jfc^The Logan (0.) Gazette gets off some excellent hits. In a late num
ber is a cut of a pole with a copperhead snake wound round it, and un
derneath is the following:

Copperhead! Copperhead! Where are you going?
Answer.
I 'm climbing this pole to see the cocks crowing.
Question.
Copperhead! Copperhead! what do you see?
Answer.
Butternuts! Butternuts! thick as can be! 2

entitled The Copperhead Catechism was published in New York in 1864. Between
the words Copperhead and Catechism is a cut of the head of Liberty with a snake
wound round its neck and pointing its fangs into the face of Liberty.
1 Crisis, ii. 308. A letter in the same issue is headed: "THE ELECTIONS!
. . . Crow, Chapman, Crow! [Here was a great Shanghai rooster elegantly drawn
in pencil]" (ii- 305).
2 ii. 344. The Logan Gazette, or (as it was sometimes called) the Logan

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 231
It is not a little curious that the many extracts before me from
Republican papers make no mention of the snake until Vallandigham
in his speech of February 14, 1863, gave rise to the adoption of the
name by the Copperheads themselves. After that, there is indeed no
lack of references to the copperhead snake, and in retaliation the
Copperheads, in obvious allusion to the term Black Republican,1
dubbed their opponents Black Snakes. This extract is from the New
York Tribune of February 16, 1863:
COPPERHEADS.
The Express 2 accepts and rejoices in the name " Copperhead," and
desires that it may be applied to the entire Democratic Pro-Slavery
party. It is apt. The Copperhead is described by naturalists as "an
American venomous serpent, the most dangerous after the rattle
snake." This is perfectly true, in letter and spirit; the rattlesnake
represents South Carolina — see the first Palmetto flag; the Copper
head represents your Northern traitor. The rattlesnake, with all its
venom, has one virtue — it never strikes without warning; that in
evitable rattle gives you timely notice of danger; but the Copperhead
gives no sign of attack — it is in verity a snake in the grass. South
Carolina gave long warning of her purpose to strike — she shook her
rattles and bared her fangs for years before she made the spring at
Sumter. Your Copperhead is no such chivalrous foe; for he hides in
the grass, silent and treacherous, springs upon you unawares — no
rattle, no hiss, but a lurking watchfulness and a leap at your throat,
that might, for its perfect surprise if not its success, excite envy in the
breast of an Indian Thug. . . . There is remarkable fitness in the
name — let the traitors be called "Copperheads" (p. 4/5-6).

County Gazette, was established at Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio, in 1830;
in 1870 its name was changed to the Examiner, and it is still published under
that name: see History of Logan County, 1880, p. 283. For information about
it I am indebted to our associate Mr. Clarence S. Brigham and to Professor
Arthur W. Hodgman of the Ohio State University.
1 Webster's International Dictionary states that the term Black Republican
was "first applied in Civil War times;" but Thornton (American Glossary, i.
67-68) gives fourteen extracts ranging from January 3, 1856, to March 10, 1861.
The expressions "Black Republican party," "Black Republican chivalry," and
"ranting Black Republicans," occur in the Democratic Review for January, 1856
(xxxvii. 25, 26).
2 This is probably a reference to an extract from the New York Express al
ready quoted from the Crisis of March 11: see p. 216, above.

232 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Apbil,
The following editorial appeared in Harper's Weekly of February
28, 1863: COPPERHEADISM.
Mb. Clement Vallandigham, member of Congress from Ohio,
made a speech last week in which he avowed himself a "Copperhead." l
Certain editors nearer home have likewise rejoiced in the title. It
becomes interesting to inquire what it means, and how it came to be
applied to a class of politicians.
A "copperhead," according to the American Cyclopedia, is "a ven
omous serpent . . . the head is thick . . . the neck contracted, and
its scales smooth; there are no rattles, the tail being short . . . near
the flanks are rounded dark blotches ... it prefers dark and moist
places ... It gives no warning of its proximity . . . feeds on mice,
small birds, etc., and seldom attacks man ... it is slow and clumsy
in its motions, and a very slight blow suffices to kill it ... It is also
called 'chunk-head,' and 'deaf-adder.'"
It can not be denied that the analogy between this loathsome creature
and the mean, sneaking politicians who are now distracting the North
ern mind with cries of peace is quite striking. Like the copperhead, the
peace party are "venomous" in their attacks on the nation; like it,
their "head" is undoubtedly "thick;" like it, their "neck" and reach
are "contracted." Their "scales," too, are "smooth;" and they have
no rattles to warn the honest traveler of their insidious approach. Like
the copperhead, their character is "stained by dark blotches;" and,
like it, they "prefer dark places" to the light of day. Like that sneak
ing reptile, their prey is "small, feeble creatures;" and they "seldom ven
ture to attack a man." If we add that our political Copperheads, like
their reptile type, are so "slow and clumsy in their motions" that they
deserve the additional cognomina of "Chunk-heads" and "Deaf-
adders," and that "a very slight blow" makes an end of them, we shall
have made the analogy complete. It is creditable to the discernment of
our Western fellow-citizens that they so quickly realized the resemblance
between the copperhead snake and the peace politician, and baptized
them by one common appellation.
We shall not waste time in arguing with the copperheads. Men
who are capable of justifying the rebels and espousing their cause
when the blood of some member of almost every Northern family
reddens Southern soil, and the bones of Northern soldiers are
worn as ornaments by Southern women, are not likely to be con-
1 See p. 216,'above.

THE COPPERHEAD PARTY.— IN FAVOR OF A VIGOROUS PROSECUTION OF PEACE!

CARTOON IN HARPER'S WEEKLY OF 28 FEBRUARY, 1863, VII. 144
ENGRAVED FOR THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM A COPY IN THE BOSTON ATHENEUM

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 233
vinced by argument, or to be pervious to any thing short of a bayonet
thrust. But one suggestion we will make. If Mr. Vallandigham, or any of
his fellow-copperheads, will visit any large camp of loyal troops, either
in the East or in the West or in the South, and will, in presence of the
soldiers, express the sentiments they have uttered at Newark, New York,
and elsewhere; and if, without the protection of the generals and pro
vost-marshals, whom they so heartily abuse, they succeed, after de
livering their speech, in making their escape alive, and without a coat
of tar and feathers, we shall agree that Copperheads may fairly be toler
ated. Our soldiers are anxious to have the challenge accepted.1
A letter dated Chittenango, Madison County, New York, March
4, printed in the Albany Argus and Atlas of March 6, is headed:
"'Copperhead' Victory in Sullivan! 'Black Snakes' Cleaned
Out." i These items were printed in the Crisis of March 18 and
April 1: About Snakes.
A Democrat said the other day to a Republican: "If it has come to
snakes, I would rather be a copperhead than a black snake."
So much for the snake question.3
Prom Portage County, Ohio.
(Extract of a Letter.)
Gov. Medary — Dear Sir: . . . The Abolition Black-snakes are
now using every effort to obtain subscribers to a new ism that Greeley
has put forth, which they denominate the "Loyal National League."
. . . The Black-snake editors appear to be urging their followers up
to " blood letting" among us. We are dubbed Copperheads and Traitors,
and the same hatred of Democrats is instigated as has for many years
been instigated against Southern men and their institutions.4
A letter from Wood Grove, Morgan County, Ohio, April 7, said:
"I tell you that we just completely skunked the Black Snakes —
they did not even get a supervisor elected;" and ended: "Give the
Black Serpents thunder." 6 A letter from Brimfield, Ohio, April 7,
stated that "We held our annual election on Monday, and elected

1 Harper's Weekly, vii. 130. ! * Crisis, March 18, iii. 63.
8 Crisis, March 18, iii. 61. * Crisis, April 1, iii. 77.
» Crisis, April 15, iii. 93-93.

234 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [April,
our Copperhead ticket clean through, whipping the Blacksnake
ticket by some 52 majority." x A correspondent writing of the
election from Linnville, Ohio, April 7, said: "We do not feel like
doing without your Copperhead paper, as it is termed by the (dis)-
Union party. . . . One hundred and thirty-three Copperheads
formed in line of battle. But to our great disappointment not one
Black Snake appeared against us." 2 A letter from Milton town
ship, Jackson County, Ohio, April 9, declared that "The 'Copper
heads' wiped out the Black Snakes (or Black Republicans) on Mon
day last. . . . The following are the names of the men elected, all
regular built ' Copperheads.' " 3 "In the days of ' Bleeding Kansas,' "
remarked the Darke County (Ohio) Democrat, "the Black Snakes
were the champions of 'Free Speech.'"4 The Crisis of April 22
contained this passage: The Viper Stinging Itself.
When we see Abolitionists raging and foaming about Democrats
wearing butternut emblems of "two hearts united in one," and copper
heads of "Liberty," we are reminded of the viper in the circle of fire
stinging itself to death.
Who applied the "butternut" and "copperhead" designation to the
Democrats? Not the Democrats themselves, most assuredly. It was
these black (snake) Republicans, and the Democrats, instead of getting
mad at the intended blackguard terms, took it in good humor by turn
ing it off as a joke, and then the black snakes got "all fired riley" at
their own villainous acts! That's the true story.6
In the same paper of April 29 was this paragraph:
Our New Names. — The name " Butternut," apphed to Democrats
is the reverse of any offensive appellation. The butternut, when cut
into two parts, near the centre, presents a perfect picture of two hearts,
united at the base — typical of the North and South united together,
under the rule of the Butternut Democracy. As to Copperheads, that
reptile is inoffensive except when trod on, or in the month of August.
In either case it is dangerous.6

1 Crisis, April 15, iii. 93. 2 Crisis, April 29, iii. 110.
3 Crisis, April 15, iii. 92. 4 iii. 95.
6 Crisis, April 22, iii. 101. 6 Crisis, April 29, iii. 110.

1918] ORIGIN OF BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 235
In the Old Guard for April is a description of a "Great Lincoln
Picture Gallery," No. 21 being "A copperhead chasing a huge black
snake, which is running away with affrighted velocity;" * and in
the same number is this item: "Copperheads and Black Snakes.
The republicans call democrats 'copperheads' — the democrats re
tort by calling republicans 'black snakes.' If the snake family ever
get to fighting, save us from the fate of the black snakes, say we." 2
A paragraph headed "Swearing Rattlesnakes," printed in the Chicago
Tribune of May 5, begins: "Still at the work of swearing Rattle
snakes. . . . But with chagrin they now see the mailed hand open
again, and these Copperheads gliding safely away" (p. 1/1). A
letter from Concord township, Champaign County, Ohio, stated
that "The Blacksnakes held what they called a loyal war meeting
here a few days since." 3 Our extracts are brought to an end with
the following vigorous and amusing retort from the Crisis of May 6:
Copperheads vs. Blacksnakes.
The Black Repubhcans, excessively fond of applying pet names to
their opponents, are now very industriously applying the term "Copper
heads " to the Democrats. We like it much. There is an applicability
about it which speaks out boldly and has a palpable meaning.
The "Copperhead" is peculiar to this country — a fearless, inde
pendent snake that knows its power, and when disturbed or interfered
with, uses it. It is a brave snake, and, therefore, naturally tolerant, harm
less and passive; but take care you do not trample upon it, for it never
runs except to attack its foe, and its bite, when once aroused, is awful.
Now, the representative of the Repubhcans, opposite to the Copper
head, is the Blacksnake. And here, too, the analogy is complete. The
Blacksnake is a cowardly, hissing, thieving reptile. He possesses some
what the power to charm, but he always charms the innocent to de
struction. — He robs bird's nests, visits barn yards and sucks hens' eggs,
and will often be found coiled around the legs of a cow, sucking her milk,
just as Black Republican contractors, jobbers, and office holders are
now doing with Uncle Samuel's cow.4
The earliest cartoon I have seen in which a snake is represented is
in Harper's Weekly of February 28, 1863, reproduced facing page

1 Old Guard, i. 92. s i. 94.
3 Crisis, May 6, iii. 118. * iii. 119.

236 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Aran.,
232.1 The same illustration was used in a broadside entitled
"Copperheads vigorously Prosecuting Peace. Resolutions of the
Hartford Convention, Feb. 18, 1863. Woodcut. Large folio, 2
columns. (Hartford, 1863)." 2 In Vanity Fair of May 2 is a car
toon labelled, "Lord Lyons: In full regalia, as he appeared on the
occasion of being chosen Chief Moderator of the Copperhead or
K.G.C." 3 The British Minister at Washington has on an apron
on which is depicted a snake, and in his hand is a caduceus (with
two snakes). In the same paper of May 9 is a cartoon labelled
"Manton Marble: The Man of 'The World;'" and underneath the
words "The World" is a snake.* Charles Godfrey Leland's Ye Book
of Copperheads, the title-page of which is also here reproduced
(facing this page), was probably published about June, 1863. In his
Memoirs, published in 1893, Leland said:
I was very busy during the first six months of 1863. ... I also wrote
and illustrated, with the aid of my brother, a very eccentric pamphlet,
"The Book of Copperheads." When Abraham Lincoln died two books
were found in his desk. One was the " Letters of Petroleum V. Naseby,"
by Dr. R. Locke, and my "Book of Copperheads," which latter was sent
to me to see and return.6

1 Harper's Weekly, vii. 144. In the legend attached to a cartoon in Harper's
Weekly of January 31 (see p. 212, above) are the words "Peace Sneaks." It is
clear from the extracts here given that the Republicans indulged in a play on
the words "snake" and "sneak" — and perhaps such a pun was intended in that
legend. 1 This title is taken from the catalogue of Libbie's sale of April 25-26, 1918,
no. 225, p. 19. The broadside was bought by the Library of Congress, and I am
indebted to our associate Mr. A. P. C. Griffin for the information that the wood
cut is identical with the one in Harper's Weekly of February 28.
» Vanity Fair, vii. 33. « vii. 45.
6 Memoirs, London, ii. 44. Mrs. Joseph Pennell also states that Leland "wrote,
with his brother [Henry Perry Leland], 'The Book of Copperheads,' and illustrated
it" (Charles Godfrey Leland, 1906, i. 254). As the pamphlet contains on its
last page an extract from the Richmond Enquirer of May 18, and on p. 22 a car
toon dated May 23, it could not have been published earlier than the very end of
May; but possibly some of the cartoons or rhymes had appeared elsewhere be
fore being published in book form. The following is taken from Vanity Fair of
May 2 (vii. 35): Yea! Verily!
"The Philadelphia 'Copperheads,'"
Quoth Uncle Sam to me,
"Are in a very shaky state,
As whoso reads 'The Book' may see!"

PHILADELPHIA:
FREDERICK LEYPOLDT,
1863.

TITLE-PAGE OF YE BOOK OF COPPERHEADS
ENGRAVED FOR THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM A COPY IN THE BOSTON ATHENSUM

1918] ORIGIN OP BUTTERNUT AND COPPERHEAD 237
In 1863 there was also published at Philadelphia a skit entitled,
"Ye Sneak Yclepid Copperhead. A Satirical Poem. I do not like
em — sneaks, I mean." On the title-page is a cut of an eagle seiz
ing a snake in its talons, and there are seven illustrations, in all of
which a snake is depicted.1
Reviewing the evidence as a whole, it appears that Butternut and
Copperhead — like Whig, Tory, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, Uncle
Sam, and scores of other terms — take their place among the desig
nations which have been accepted by those to whom they were
originally applied in contempt or in mild derision.

"How so?" quoth I with mild surprise.
"Why, see you not how dire their need
Must be whose chief dependence lies,
As theirs, upon 'a broken Reed'?"
This would seem to be an allusion to William Bradford Reed of Philadelphia, who
is satirized in Leland's pamphlet, a cartoon on p. 10 having the inscription:
There once was a twistified Reed, who took for his pattern Snake-TFeed;
Till the Copperheads all, great, middling, and small,
Seemed straight by the side of this Reed.
On the other hand, I have found no proof that the cartoons or rhymes were
printed independently, and Mrs. Pennell kindly informs me that as her uncle's
books and papers are stored in London she can throw no light on this matter.
1 In the catalogue of the Boston Public Library this is attributed to Leland,
though on what authority is not stated; and Mrs. Pennell, as she kindly writes
me, hesitates to say anything about it. "Ye Introduction" to this skit begins:
"Ye 'sneak' is a sly-bird. Ye rattle-snake, indeed, hath some chivalry, even if
it is in its tail; but ye Sneaks yclepid 'Copperheads' hath none."

:• i;