(Editor’s note: "Josh Franklin’s Far Out Family Blog" is 10 chapters of
Civil War history focusing on Ohio’s role, written in a modern tone. Students,
parents and teachers are invited to take the series a little further after
reading it, and discuss the topics suggested below. The series is published
through Ohio Newspapers in Education and was written by Steven Coburn-Griffis.
The illustration is by Isaac Schumacher.)Chapter six:June 18, 1863Wilf,I swear
that I will never understand the way some people think. Here we are, my fellow
soldiers and I, fighting for the right of things, for the freedom of all men.
Fighting and dying, Wilf. Yet here, back in my very own and beloved Ohio, the
state of my birth, there are people resisting the Union and our efforts.I do not
understand these Butternuts, Wilf, these Copperheads. They are as wrong-headed
in their way as any Johnny Reb. I pray for peace as much as any man. Of this you
must surely be aware. But to plead for peace at the cost of our own souls, for
how can any less be at stake here should we turn our backs on our brethren, is
no plea at all, but a deal with the Devil himself.God love you, Wilf. Should I
ever find that you sided with these ignorants, I will give you such a thrashing
as you would never dare have dreamed.EthanIt seems that every war has its
protestors, even the Civil War.I have to admit that I was pretty surprised when
I read this. And that sent me right to the computer to find out what’s what. I
mean, "Butternut" and "Copperhead"?As it turns out, what my
Uncle Ethan was so upset about was a fringe group of the Democratic party, the
Peace Democrats. They were teed off about a lot of stuff that the federal
government was doing at the time. Conscription, the draft, was at the top of
their list. So they protested and encouraged people to either resist the draft
or to desert the army, if they’d already been drafted.Because they felt these
kinds of protests were dangerous, even poisonous, to the Union, Republicans at
the time called the Peace Democrats "Copperheads", like the snake.
From what I could find out "Butternut" was more about the color of the
Confederate uniforms.At any rate, some of the rowdier Peace Democrats really got
up to some trouble. In Holmes County, hundreds of Copperheads gathered in what
is now Glenmont to fight the draft. News of this got back to Columbus and
officers there sent out four hundred soldiers to "quell the
rebellion." When the Copperheads got word of this, most just took off. But
some decided to stay and set up to fight in an old farmhouse they chose to call
Fort Vallandigham. They named it after Clement Vallandigham, a Dayton, Ohio,
Congressman and Copperhead leader. Once the Union soldiers got there, there was
even a battle … if you can call it that. It only lasted about a minute; maybe
five, then the Copperheads jumped out the window and ran away into the woods. It
seems that Fort Vallandigham wasn’t everything they’d hoped it would be and it
earned a new nickname with the locals.They called it Fort Fizzle.Vocabulary
wordsButternutsCopperheadsbrethrenconscriptionquellChapter six: questions and
activitiesLocate Glenmont and Holmes County on a map. How far from your school
is Glenmont?Traveling at 55 mph, how long would it take you and your class to
visit there?Do you think it was important to put down this rebellion? Why or why
not?Uncle Ethan has slang terms for enemy soldiers, including "Johnny
Reb". Josh is surprised by this. Research past wars and conflicts to
discover slang terms used for the opposition.Why do you think people did this?
Do we still? Why or why not?