1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Copperheads

COPPERHEADS, an American political epithet, applied by Union men during the Civil War to those men in the North who, deeming it impossible to conquer the Confederacy, were earnestly in favour of peace and therefore opposed to the war policy of the president and of Congress. Such men were not necessarily friends of the Confederate cause. The term originated in the autumn of 1862, and its use quickly spread throughout the North. In the Western states early in 1863 the terms “Copperhead” and “Democrat” had become practically synonymous. The name was adopted because of the fancied resemblance of the peace party to the venomous copperhead snake, and, though applied as a term of opprobrium, it was willingly assumed by those upon whom it was bestowed.