Back then in the North, there were War Democrats who fully supported the Union cause, Peace Democrats who opposed the war and didn't care if the Union was broken in two, and then there were the Copperheads --- Northerners who fully supported the Confederate cause and worked, sometimes with Confederate agents, to undermine the Union war effort.
Understood. Which is why I should have said all Copperheads were Democrats but not all Democrats were Copperheads. My bad.
You make the good point about the definition of Copperhead.
It was a general term, like “progressive” that varied from instance to instance as to what it meant. Liek many terms some took it as a badge of honor.
Some Copperheads supported the Union, but some were outright anti-war.
Vallandigham is a good focus character to examine the whole issue.