[Ads-l] Further Antedating of "Copperhead" (Southern Sympathizer in Civil War)

[Stephen Goranson]

1851
Fred is surely correct in observing that OED's claim that copperhead "Originated in autumn of 1862"
is false.
In fact, it was evidently used even before the Civil War started, as a pro-secessionist term.

The Daily Union, City of Washington, Sun. March 9, 1851, page 3, col. 1, continuing from p. 2,
of an earlier [Mar. 7?] report on the end of a Congress session. America's Historical Newspapers.

the objection of [Senator Hopkins Lacy] Turney of Tennessee, a "copper-head" disunionist

Stephen Goranson

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/apps/readex/doc?p=EANX&sort=YMD_date%3AA&f=advanced&val-base-0=copper-head&fld-base-0=ocrtext&bln-base-1=and&val-base-1=secession&fld-base-1=ocrtext&docref=image%2Fv2%3A1100D77C337D7138%40EANX-143E0B36D27FF640%402397191-143DF69545B6BCF0%402&origin=image%2Fv2%3A1100D77C337D7138%40EANX-143E0B36D27FF640%402397191-143DF69545B6BCF0%402-143DF69545B6BCF0%40

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2025 10:04 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "Copperhead" (Southern Sympathizer in Civil War)

The OED's entry for "Copperhead" meaning a Northerner sympathetic to the Confederacy has a first citation of 1863, with a misguided undocumented assertion "Originated in autumn of 1862."

Copperhead (OED 1863)  1861 The Independent (New York) 8 Aug. 3 (ProQuest)  Copperheads. — The sympathizers with the Southern rebellion, residing in Bergen county, held a meeting at Schrealenburg on Tuesday.

Fred Shapiro


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