Tracing the Origins of the Political Epithet 'Copperhead', 1860-1861

Tracing the Origins of the Political Epithet 'Copperhead' 

By Lisa Mabrey. Copyright © 2021. This post contains original writing that is not to be reproduced elsewhere online or in print without the author's permission. Contact lamabrey3[a/t]gmail[d/o/t]com.

 

It is conventionally accepted that the political epithet 'copperhead' was first used in the New York Tribune on July 20, 1861.[1] However, this date is based on scholarship that predates modern newspaper archive computer databases. A search on any such database today quickly reveals several political uses of 'copperhead' that predate July 1861, including use in that very same paper, the New York Tribune, in February 1861. The term was also used by a Missouri Congressman in a widely publicized June 1, 1861 speech, which likely fueled its popularity. The epithet appears to have originated in response to widespread Southern use of rattlesnake iconography during the Secession Crisis.

In November of 1860, many Southerners demonstrated their support for secession by creating homemade banners and flags and displaying them publicly.  On November 12, the Charleston Mercury noted, "[t]here is a general demand for flags. Everybody that can make them is hard at work…"[2]  One week later, the Mercury wrote, "there are just so many different styles of handsome banners, hung out on the outer walls, that we confess we are puzzled to discriminate among them."[3]  The Columbus (Ga.) Sun commented, "[m]uch importance seems to be attached to the flag under which the seceders are to fight."[4] A Charleston correspondent for the Baltimore Sun reported, "[t]he raising of Palmetto flags in various sections of the South is becoming all the rage," and that flags were being raised "as soon as they can be manufactured."[5] By mid-November 1860, "nowhere in [South Carolina], except from the forts and the United States Arsenal, is the American flag seen to wave."[6]  A Boston Journal correspondent in Charleston reported that, "the eye is continually arrested by the numerous representations of the palmetto which wave and flutter in almost uninterrupted secession through the whole length of the street."[7] A Boston Herald correspondent likewise wrote, "I have counted one hundred and nineteen banners [in Charleston], and, judging from the number of streets I passed along, the whole number in the city must exceed two hundred."[8]

 

 Though a variety of symbols reportedly appeared on secession flags, many designs featured rattlesnakes. "Flags of every variety of color, texture and device increase rapidly in number. The Palmetto, Rattle-Snake, Crescent, and Lone Star figure conspicuously among them," reported the Boston Herald.[8]  The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that South Carolina "is a nation within herself, and her emblems are the palmetto tree, the lone star and that fascinating and dangerous reptile, the rattlesnake."[6]  The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph remarked, "there is no emblem more appropriate…for the flag of a Southern State, than that of a serpent, harmless if let alone, warning those who are trespassing upon his rights, that if they continue their aggressions, he will give them the most deadly wound that his poisonous fangs can inflict."[9]

In an article reprinted in dozens of papers, the Charleston Mercury called on South Carolina to officially adopt a flag of the following design: "The ground entirely of blue, with a golden palmetto in the center; a golden rattlesnake twining round the stem of the palmetto, with its rattle sprung, head erect and tongue protruded. In the background, to the rear of the tree and snake, a golden eagle, and a single golden star in the upper right corner, with the words 'Room for More' on the opposite."[10] The Charleston Courier described another flag, "showing the Palmetto tree, rattlesnake, one red star and two blue stars, the initials, 'S. C.,' and the motto 'Separate action—Secession.'"[11] 

A battalion muster in Cheraw, South Carolina rallied around a flag of "a Palmetto tree, with the rattlesnake, head and tail erect, entwining it, and the motto, 'Noli me tangere,' [Touch me not] and on the reverse the stalwart arm of a blacksmith, with hammer raised with the inscription, '28th regiment ready to strike.'"[12]  Days later, a banner of similar description was hung in the Cheraw town square.[13] 

In the days before South Carolina's Secession Convention in December 1860, a large secession banner was displayed on a line stretching from the Guard House to the City Hall in Charleston.  This banner featured an arch made up of fifteen Southern States, South Carolina as the keystone, the non-slaveholding States in a broken pile at the bottom, a palmetto and rattlesnake in the center, and the words 'Southern Republic' and 'Built from the ruins'.[14] At nightfall, the banner was moved to the Hall where the Secession Convention would take place, and remained prominently displayed for the duration of the Convention.[15] 

This illustration from Harper's Cyclopedia of United States History (1893)[16] differs slightly
from the Charleston Mercury's description of this flag. The Mercury described the figure above
South Carolina as "Calhoun, with the Constitution in his hand."

Meanwhile, in Augusta, Georgia, a banner suspended across Broad Street bore the image of a cotton plant with a rattlesnake coiling around the base, and the words, "Georgia, the Empire State of the South, resumes her sovereignty."[17]

In Savannah, Georgia's Johnson Square in early November 1860, a large gathering of people rallied around a flag with "the representation of a large rattlesnake in the attitude of striking," and the phrases "Don’t tread on me," and "Our Motto, Southern Rights and the Equality of the States."[18] Shortly thereafter another secession banner was hung in Savannah’s Reynolds Square, bearing on one side a single star, with the words ‘State Action' and on the otherside an oak tree, rattlesnake, and the words 'Don’t Tread on Me.'[19] Meanwhile, at a public meeting in Charleston, the so-called 'flag of Georgia,' described as having a rattlesnake and the words 'Don’t Tread on Me,' was unfurled to an enthusiastic crowd.[20]

Johnson's Square, Savannah, GA
November 8, 1860 [21]

In Alabama, a popular suggestion for a new official flag was a design containing a rattlesnake with fifteen rattles coiled next to a cotton plant and the words 'Noli me tangere.'[22] A flag with the same design on one side was later flown over the Capitol during the Alabama Secession Convention in January 1861, and was also officially adopted as the official flag of the Convention. It flew over the capital until February 10, 1861, when it was reportedly damaged by weather.[23] A flag of similar design was later adopted by the 1st Alabama Infantry, Companies I-K.[24]

flag of the 1st Alabama Infantry, Companies I-K [24]

 

In Baltimore, a 'Southern Guard' group raised a flag above the Liberty Engine House on Liberty Street that depicted a rattlesnake, Palmetto, and fifteen stars. [25] One Baltimore correspondent wrote of the spectacle, "I could hear numerous whisperings and mutterings among the crowd as they gazed upon the Palmetto flag... that it must soon come down and give place to the National stars and stripes.  There appeared to be present a hard looking crowd determined to protect it, and from certain indications I would not be surprised to hear of a conflict before morning.  The novelty drew together many curious spectators, nine out of every ten of them disapproving the idea of hoisting such a flag in our midst at such a time.  The better policy, however, would be to allow it to float quietly. A good many cockades are being sported by persons here, but mostly for mere sport."[26] Meanwhile, another Baltimore resident planted a live Palmetto tree in the front of his residence and expressed his plans to get a live rattlesnake to coil around it.[25] 

These secession banners also flew on ship masts and above at least one fort. The Richmond Whig reported, "The steamer Carolina displayed a blue flag, with the words 'Florida goes with South Carolina.' The yacht Nora was also decked out with States Rights flags. In fact, if any of our readers will walk along [the Richmond] wharves, they will notice a great many new signals."[27] The Alexandria Gazette reported a brig "elegantly dressed with signal flags, and at her peak, flying in the breeze, is the Palmetto and the lone star."[10] The Wheeling (W.Va.) Daily Intelligencer reported that a steamer had to lower the U.S. Flag and hoist the palmetto flag before her arrival at the port of Charleston.[28] A flag bearing the motto “Southern Rights" and a rattlesnake also briefly flew over Fort Kearney in Kansas.[29] A Massachusetts paper reported a ship sailing from Savannah into Boston Harbor, "bearing at the main a white flag, having on it the emblem of a rattlesnake ... 'Don’t tread on me!' and ... fifteen stars, representing the fifteen slave states; but carrying no American flag." A crowd formed on the wharf, demanding that the captain replace the flag with an American one before they would disperse. After complying, "[t]he 'rattlesnake' was eagerly seized and trampled upon by the multitude, and then torn completely to tatters." [30]

It is likely apparent from the recurrent phrasing of 'Don't Tread on Me' that many of these flag makers drew their inspiration from the Gadsden Flag. Several papers described the rattlesnake flag raised in Savannah's Johnson Square as being one and the same as "the old colony flag of Georgia."[31] This Revolutionary-era inspiration for symbols did not pass without comment. As the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, the banner "under which our navy first engaged with the enemy, and had in the centre a coiled rattlesnake, with crest erect, and the significant motto, ‘Don’t tread on me’ [has been adopted] by the Secessionists of South Carolina, [and] has for a device a Palmetto tree with a rattlesnake coiled around it."[32] The Montgomery Mail described secession banner-makers as “enthused with the spirit that actuated the women of '76."[33] One particular report of a South Carolina flag description claimed that "The apprentices of Robt James, No. 16 State street, a few days ago raised a banner which was the original banner used in 1832, when Major Heileman, with his troops, were compelled to evacuate the Citadel (now the Military School of Carolina’s sons). The ground is blue, with two shields—one contains the Palmetto tree, with the rattlesnake coiled around it ready to strike; the other contains a single star, representing State Sovereignty."[34]

Despite the fact that rattlesnakes appearing on American-made banners was not a new phenomenon to 1860, they became one of the defining symbols for the Southern Secession movement. “South Carolina is now, practically, not one of the United States," wrote an Ohio editor in November 1860. "She has no Senators, no Representatives at the Capital. She has removed the banner of the Stripes and Stars form her flag staffs, and has hoisted the Colonial flag of her infancy. Her sons mount the Blue Cockade, carry arms, drink whiskey and swear at the Union.  They are drunk with excitement and folly.  They talk only of 'Lone Stars,' 'Palmetto Trees,' 'Rattle Snakes rampant,' 'Eagles conchant,' 'Room for more'..."[35] The Vermont Phoenix referred to South Carolina's secession flags as "rattlesnake and cabbage tree" ensigns.[36] 

Dozens of newspapers throughout the country reprinted reports of secession banner designs, and Northern papers were quick to ridicule the South for its embrace of rattlesnakes as a mascot, regardless of inspiration from Revolutionary-era symbolism. Of the proposed official flag design for South Carolina that featured a rattlesnake and eagle, the Springfield (Mass.) Republican remarked that "the symbols are not explained, but seems to indicate that the eagle of the Union is destined to be swallowed by the South Carolina rattlesnake."[37] The New York Herald snidely remarked that the same flag was “a suitable and appropriate national banner for the Southern Confederacy."[38]

Garrison remarked in his Liberator of snake flag designs collectively, "How appropriate, that a den of snakes, especially when stirred up, should put forth one of its own species, in defiant attitude, to spit out its venom!"[39]  The Salem (Oh.) Anti-Slavery Bugle remarked of rattlesnake flags, "it would be no cause of surprise if the North should speedily find she has stirred up a nest of southern rattlesnakes."[40] A report of cockades featuring actual snake rattles and the words 'When I make a noise, I strike—Death rather than dishonor' caused one Pennsylvania editor to quip, "If they can find rattlesnakes enough to furnish cockades for all hands, South Carolina must be rather a pleasant country to live in."[41]

A few Southern editors were also critical of rattlesnakes as a Southern emblem, as seen in this excerpt from the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph:

"...the snake, from the days of Adam to the present time, by the common consent of mankind, has been held to enblemise low craft, deceit and cunning, moral and physical degradation, malignity, and finally that impersonation of all that is vile--Satan himself! But notwithstanding all this, South Carolina has a snake--colonial Georgia a snake--and now Alabama is going to have a snake too. Are we to be a snake republic altogether? Are the Heavens above and the teeming earth around us so destitute of striking and significant emblems of a noble moral and physical energy, that we must all burrow in dens and caves, in swamps and morasses for snakes?—If so, let us vary the species a little. Your rattle snake takes to his legs--no, to his belly—at the sight of the king snake, and never stops till the royal reptile has him in his fatal folds. He is a dead snake so soon as the king-snake gets sight of him. Did you ever think of that and its significance to a rattle-snake Republic?"[42]

As alluded to in the above Telegraph editorial, the use of rattlesnakes on Southern flags invited all manner of comparisons of the South and Secessionists to a snake or a den of snakes. The Charleston Mercury wrote that, "Florida is now in coil. She will spring her rattles immediately upon the opening of the Legislature, and then the blow will follow, prompt, forcible and decisive. And when she does strike, the blow inflicted upon her adversaries will be fatal."[43]

 These comparisons of Secessionists to snakes continued when Northerners began to express sympathies with the Southern cause. On February 7, 1861, a Baltimore correspondent to the New York Daily Tribune wrote:

"The Republicans at Washington seem to have a hard time of it.  They are in the fix of the Indian hunter among the snakes.  After a day’s fatigue, he made a bed of leaves and laid his head upon a stone, to take a snooze.  All at once he was waked up by a storm of rattles on every side, which his ear quickly interpreted, and rising form his bed, he softly made his way out of the nest of rattlesnakes into which he had unwittingly strayed.  His next effort at spreading for himself a couch in the forest was not a whit more successful, for he was waked up, shortly after he laid down, by a shower of hisses, which proved to be the warnings of a nest of copperheads, out of which he stealthily wormed his way.  So with the Republicans: if they escape from the fangs of the Breckinridge Secession rattlesnakes, it is to be assailed by the still more poisonous ones of the Bell and Everett copperheads."[44]

 

There was also, in early April 1861, a widely circulated report that two copperhead snakes had been mailed from a Southern State to the post office in Washington, which were killed after "an exciting scramble." This story appeared in scores of papers across at least fourteen States.[45] Some versions of the story claimed that the box of snakes was addressed directly to President Lincoln for "murderous purpose." The Cleveland (Oh.) Leader remarked of the story, "So Washington is to be invaded at any rate. The Palmettoans threatened to do it with their rattlesnake flag, but did not ... think that bunting quite fierce enough..."[46] A New Hampshire editor quipped, "It was certainly labor thrown away -- for [Lincoln] has already as many 'vipers' about him as he can take care of."[47] Another editor in Washington noted that "[t]he whole tale, improbable as it would seem, has even been made the subject of sensation despatches and editorials in the New York papers."[48]

One such editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on April 10, 1861, which is reproduced here at length because it serves not only to illustrate an editor seizing on this mailbag snakes story for political simile, but also because it illustrates a growing trend of editors to compare specific politicians to different species of snakes. Not to mention that the final analogy is so particularly biting that it would be a shame not to repeat it.

"A marked peculiarity of the present “spread” in the Cotton States is the revolution it has worked in the zoological symbols of national glory.  Hitherto, the lion, the cock or the eagle, either single or double-headed, have been emblazoned on the shields and crowned the standards of armies victorious and armies defeated from the days of imperial Rome to the days of King Cotton and the C. S. A.  But Jeff Davis and “the fathers” will have none of them.  They are monitors of freedom.  They soar, and flap, and crow; and spring, despite pains and penalties.  These objections apply alike to the furred and feathered tribes.  To be sure, the sea has monarchs as good as ever were caught, such as the shark and the whale.  The shark has claims, in being a fish of prey, that the whale, who is only preyed on, has not.  But, if the C. S. A. asked for a fish, Jeff Davis has given them a serpent, in violation of Christian teachings, and, therefore, the historian of the times, while searching for material among Cotton State annals, finds snakes of every conceivable species wriggling in every possible direction. 

Three of them lately arrived in Washington.  We do not refer to Jeff Davis’ Commissioners, but three veritable and deadly copper-heads, who were sent from Florida in a mail bag, and, to the horror of a group of clerks, presented their fangs as credentials, on last Saturday morning, in the Dead Letter office.  We will not comment on the mingled meanness and malignity that prompted so dastardly a trick.  Perhaps the copper-head mail was the invention of the man who described the American cent as “a piece of dirty copper, with liberty stamped on it to make mischief.”  What a pity he does not write a book on “Secessionists and Snakes.”  He could probably portray the original serpent, who, in 1832, first introduced into our political paradise the sin of secession.  The dangerous moccasin snake, of the Yancey variety, who darts a stealthy and venomous blow, might be described, as also the gentlemen in waiting on the White House steps, who emulate the rattlesnake in the warning rattle they give before the fatal sting.—Twiggs could be classed under the head of the black snake, which is said to suck the milk from a cow, and then embracing the animal’s throats with sinewy folds, strangles the helpless and doomed creature. 

Then there are quantities of garter snakes, such as Pryor and Rhett, and whip snakes like Wise and Keitt, and vipers like Floyd and Cobb, who fasten their deadly fangs into the soft bosom that has warmed them into life.  The men who are recognized as leaders at the South should remember that the slightest blow of courage and decision upon the back of a snake cripples and destroys him, and that the misguided people whom they have led to ruin and destruction, may one day throw off the coil of the serpent by the aid of a coil of rope." [49]

 

It is worth noting that the mailbag snakes story may have been at least partially untrue, as the editor of the Cleveland Leader points out, "The telegraph reports are made up of rumors and sensation items... [t]hese contradict each other day after day, and sometimes in the course of one day’s report, and yet they are sent over the country as the latest information."[50] About a week after the story first appeared, the Washington National Intelligencer reported that the snakes had been sent from the post office to the Smithsonian Institute, and speculated that the snakes may have been addressed to the Smithsonian instead of Lincoln in the first place. The National Republican, however, remarked that this speculation by the Intelligencer editor was "as improbable as it is incorrect" and that the original story is easily confirmed "by inquiry at the Post Office." [51]

After Fort Sumter, allusions to political snakes continued. In late May or early June, the Cincinnati Gazette published an article that stated, "Of all the conspirators who have labored to bring upon the South her present calamities, the Bell disunionists merit most richly the execrations of true men. They are the copperheads of treason who lurked among the flowers of loyalty to bite the unwary and confiding." [52] A few weeks later, an observer at Phillippi, West Virginia wrote, "The Secessionists here are active and determined. They embrace every opportunity...to convey information to the rebel forces. They act as constant spies... And still the farce of arresting them, administering them the oath of allegiance and releasing them, goes on... If giving aid and comfort to the enemy be treason, why not punish a few of the traitors...? The judicious hanging of half a dozen of these copperheads would be better, to-day, than a couple of additional regiments...." [53] On July 1, in Washington, Missouri Congressman Francis Preston Blair, Jr., gave a speech in which he called the Legislature of Maryland "a nest of copperheads." This specific quote from Blair's speech was widely reported in dozens of papers, often front page, likely increasing the acceptance and dissemination of the term. [54]  By the autumn of 1861, 'copperhead' had practically become political shorthand, with several articles using it without explanation, and several suggesting that some politicians had begun to embrace it as the name for a faction within the Democratic Party.[55] 

 Thus, in the symbolism and rhetoric of the U. S. Civil War, a rattlesnake came to represent rebellion and a copperhead to signify sedition. 

Young America: Crushing Rebellion and Sedition. [56]

--------------------- SOURCES ------------------------------

[1]  Charles H. Coleman, "Use of the Term 'Copperhead' during the Civil War." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Sep., 1938), pp. 263-264.  The Encyclopedia Brittanica cites the same date as Coleman, therefore I can only assume their date is based on his work. Brittanica.com. 

[2] Reprinted in “Newspaper Accounts: The Palmetto Flag.” New York Herald, New York, NY. November 17, 1860. Pages 3-4. Genealogybank.com.

[3] “What Shall Be The Flag?” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 20, 1860. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.

[4] Reprinted in “Affairs at the South.” Richmond Dispatch, Richmond, VA. November 13, 1860. Page 1. Newspapers.com.

[5] “Local Matters: Raising of Palmetto Flags.” The Sun, Baltimore, MD. November 27, 1860. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.

[6] “Attitude of South Carolina.” Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. November 29, 1860. Page 4. Genealogybank.com.

[7] Reprinted in “The Secession Movements at the South: Scenes and Incidents at Charleston.” The Sun, Baltimore, MD. November 29, 1860. Page 1. Genealogybank.com.

[8] “Letter From Charleston.” Boston Herald, Boston, MA. November 29, 1860. Page 4, Column 1. Genealogybank.com.

[9] “The Alabama Snake, And Poor Jim.” Macon Telegraph, Macon, GA. November 17, 1860. Page 1, Column 3. Genealogybank.com.

[10] Reprinted in the “Progress of the Disunion Movement.” Alexandria Gazette, Alexandria, VA. November 13, 1860. Page 2, Column 5. Genealogybank.com.

[11] “Another Palmetto.” Charleston Courier, Charleston, SC. December 4, 1860. Page 1, Column 6. Genealogybank.com.

[12] “Our Cheraw Correspondence.” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 21, 1860. Page 4, Column 3. Genealogybank.com.

[13] “Our Cheraw Correspondence.” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 23, 1860. Page 1, Column 4. Genealogybank.com.

[14] “Another Banner.” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. December 21, 1860. Page 1, Column 2. Genealogybank.com.

[15] “An Expressive Banner.” Charleston Courier, Charleston, SC. December 21, 1860. Page 1, Column 7. Genealogybank.com. 

[16] Harpers’ Popular Cyclopedia of United States History. Volume II. Harper & Brothers, New York, NY. 1893. Page 1320. Googlebooks.

[17] “Large Banner.” Augusta Chronicle, Augusta, GA. December 9, 1860. Page 3, Column 1. Genealogybank.com.

[18] “Hoisting the Colonial Flag.” Charleston Courier, Charleston, SC. November 13, 1860. Page 2, Column 3. Genealogybank.com.

[19] “The Secession Flag in Savannah.” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 20, 1860. Page 4, Column 2. Genealogybank.com.

[20] “Various Movements.” New York Herald-Tribune, New York, NY. November 14, 1860.  Page 7, Column 5. Genealogybank.com.

[21] Howell, R. H., Lithographer, and Henry Cleenewerck. The first flag of independence raised in the South, by the citizens of Savannah, Ga. November 8th, 1860 / drawn by Henry Cleenewerck, Savannah, Ga. ; lithographed by R.H. Howell, Savannah, Ga. Georgia Savannah United States, 1860. 

[22] “The Secession Movements at the South: The Flag of Alabama.” The Sun, Baltimore, MD. November 17, 1860. Page 1, Columns 3-5. Genealogybank.com.

[23] Official Symbols and Emblems of Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives and History. http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/noliflag.html

[24] Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection, Alabama Department of Archives and History. http://www.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/011.html

[25] “More Banners.” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 27, 1860. Page 2, Column 1. Genealogybank.com.

[26] “Our Baltimore Letter.” Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. November 27, 1860. Page 4, Column 5. Genealogybank.com.

[27] “Marine News.” Richmond Whig, Richmond, VA. November 13, 1860. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.

[28] “By Telegraph.” The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV. November 12, 1860. Page 3. Newspapers.com.

[29] “More ‘Secession’ Waggery.” Rock River Democrat, Rockford, IL. February 26, 1861. Page 2, Column 5. Genealogybank.com.

[30] “The Rattlesnake Flag in Boston Harbor.” Massachusetts Spy, Worcester, MA. April 24, 1861. Page 4, Column 3. Genealogybank.com. 

[31] “Hoisting the Colonial Flag.” Charleston Courier, Charleston, SC. November 13, 1860. Page 2, Column 3. Genealogybank.com. ; “State of Feeling and Movements South.” Constitution, Washington, DC. November 14, 1860. Page 2, Column 2. Genealogybank.com.

[32] “Something About Flags.” Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. November 23, 1860. Page 3, Columns 1-2. Genealogybank.com.

[33] Reprinted in “State of Feeling and Movements South.” Constitution, Washington, DC. November 14, 1860. Page 2, Column 2. Genealogybank.com.

[34] “What Shall Be The Flag?” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 20, 1860. Page 2, Column 1. Genealogybank.com.

[35] “The Union.” Canton Repository, Canton, OH. November 21, 1860. Page 2, Column 1. Genealogybank.com.

[36] “The Evacuation of Fort Moultrie Confirmed.” Vermont Phoenix, Brattleboro, VT. January 1, 1861. Page 2, Column 4. Genealogybank.com.

[37] “The Disunion Excitement.” Springfield Republican, Springfield, MA. November 14, 1860. Page 2, Column 3-4. Genealogybank.com.

[38] “Flag for the Southern Republic.” New York Herald, New York, NY. November 12, 1860. Page 2, Column 3. Genealogybank.com.

[39] “Alabama Raises Her Flag.” Liberator, Boston, MA. November 23, 1860. Page 3 [187], Column 4. Genealogybank.com.

[40] “Snakes.” Anti-Slavery Bugle, Salem, OH. November 24, 1860. Page 3, Column 2. Library of Congress: Chronicling America, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/1860-11-24/ed-1/seq-3/

[41] “The Palmetto Cockade.” Raftman’s Journal, Clearfield, PA. November 28, 1860. Page 2. Newspapers.com.

[42] “Leave Out Snakes.” Macon Telegraph, Macon, GA. November 13, 1860. Page 1, Column 1. Genealogybank.com.

[43] “Florida in Coil.” Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC. November 23, 1860. Page 4, Column 2. Genealogybank.com.

[44] "From Maryland: Rattlesnakes and Copperheads.” New York Herald Tribune, New York, NY. February 11, 1861. Page 6, Columns 4-5. Genealogybank.com.

[45] Including but not limited to: On Apr 8, 1861: New York Herald, Albany (Ny.) Evening Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Providence Evening Press, Wisconsin Daily Patriot, Wisconsin State Journal, Cleveland (Oh.) Plain Dealer, Daily Ohio Statesman, Boston Herald; On Apr 9, 1861: Springfield (Ma.) Republican, Lowell (Ma.) Daily Citizen and News, Sandusky (Oh.) Register, Daily Illinois State Journal, Daily Illinois State Register, Milwaukee Sentinel, Albany (Ny.) Evening Journal, Cleveland (Oh.) Leader, Louisville Daily Courier, Chicago Tribune, Daily Missouri Republican; On Apr 10, 1861: Massachusetts Spy, Philadelphia Inquirer, Springfield Republican, Washington Evening Star, Nashville Tennessean, Brooklyn Evening Star; On Apr 11, 1861: New Hampshire Sentinel, Boston Herald, Buffalo Morning Express, Washington National Republican; On Apr 12, 1861: Kalamazoo (Mi.) Gazette, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Commercial Advertiser, Washington National Republican, Cape Ann (Ma.) Light and Gloucester Telegraph; On Apr 13, 1861: Albany Evening Journal, Plattsburgh (Ny.) Republican, Washington Daily National Intelligencer, Newport Mercury, Vermont Journal, Weekly Wisconsin Patriot, Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics.

[46] "Washington Invaded." Cleveland Leader, Cleveland, OH. April 9, 1861. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.

[47] Excerpt from Column 1. New-Hampshire Patriot, Concord, NH. April 17, 1861. Page 2, Column 1. Genealogybank.com. 

[48] "The Snake Story (reprinted from the National Intelligencer, April 13)." Boston Daily Advertiser, Boston, MA. April 16, 1861. Page 2, Column 4. Genealogybank.com.

[49] “Secession and Snakes.” Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA. April 10, 1861. Page 4, Columns 2-3. Genealogybank.com.

[50] “’Special to the Herald.’” Cleveland Leader, Cleveland, OH. April 9, 1861. Page 2. Genealogybank.com.

[51] "The Snake Story (reprinted from the National Intelligencer, April 13)." Boston Daily Advertiser, Boston, MA. April 16, 1861. Page 2, Column 4. Genealogybank.com. ; Excerpt from Column 1. The National Republican, Washington, DC. April 17, 1861. Page 2. LOC. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014760/1861-04-17/ed-1/seq-2/

[52] "The Bell Disunionists. Reprinted from the Cincinnati Gazette." Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV. June 4, 1861. Page 1. Newspapers.com.

[53] "Secession Around Phillippi. From a Phillippi Letter to the Cincinnati Gazette." Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV. June 26, 1861. Page 2. Newspapers.com. 

[54] “Last Night’s Report.” Sandusky Register, Sandusky, OH. July 2, 1861. Page 3, Columns 5-6. Genealogybank.com. Also published in (including but not limited to): On July 2, 1861: Louisville Daily Courier, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Daily Leader, The Baltimore Sun, Janesville (Wi.) Daily Gazette, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Buffalo Courier, Daily Missouri Republican; On July 3, 1861: Nashville Tennessean, Daily Milwaukee News, The Leavenworth Times, Mobile (Al.) Advertiser and Register, Charleston Daily Courier, Atlanta Southern Confederacy;

[55] On August 19, 1861, an article about a Louisville Union group included the phrase, "the copperhead democracy of Ohio." ( "Union Meeting at Louisville." Cleveland Daily Leader, Cleveland, OH. August 19, 1861. Page 2. Newspapers.com.); A Maine paper referred to "the Copperheads of Maine" on August 29, implying that a political group had formed in Maine under that name. (Excerpt from Column 3. Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, Bangor, ME. August 29, 1861. Page 2. Newspapers.com.) In September, the New York Tribune article referred to a local politician in Maine as "the Copperhead candidate." ("City Items." New York Tribune, New York, NY. September 9, 1861. Page 7. Newspapers.com.)

[56] Sartain, William, Lithographer. Young American crushing rebellion and sedition / engraved by William Sartain. , ca. 1864. [Philadelphia: Published by William Sartain, 728 Sansom St., Phila] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003689254/.

.