Marion Historical Society Taking Look at Copperhead Leader

Photo of Clement L. Vallandigham.

The Marion County Historical Society’s next program meeting on the Civil War will feature Jared Haudenschield as Clement L. Vallandigham, leader of the Copperhead movement.  The October 16, 2014 free program will be held in the Heritage Hall auditorium at the corner of Church and State Streets in Marion, Ohio.

Visitors to the event are welcome to arrive anytime from 6:30 to 7PM. The program will begin promptly at 7 PM.

Clement Laird Vallandigham was an Ohio politician and a leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war, pro-Confederate Democrats during the American Civil War. He was born in Lisbon, Ohio, and admitted to the Ohio bar in 1842.  Shortly after moving to Dayton, Ohio to practice law, Vallandigham entered politics. He was elected as a Democrat to the Ohio Legislature and also served as editor of a weekly newspaper, the Dayton Empire.

Vallandigham was a vigorous supporter of states’ rights and although personally opposed to slavery, believed that the federal government had no power to regulate the institution. He further believed that the Confederacy had a right to secede and could not constitutionally be conquered militarily. He strongly opposed every military bill, leading his opponents to allege that he wanted the Confederacy to win the war. He was the acknowledged leader of the Copperheads and in May 1862 coined their slogan, “To maintain the Constitution as it is, and to restore the Union as it was.”  On May 1, 1863, He denounced “King Lincoln,” calling for Abraham Lincoln’s removal from the presidency.

On May 5 he was arrested and tried by a military court where he was denied a writ of “habeas corpus”, convicted by a military tribunal of “uttering disloyal sentiments” and attempting to hinder the prosecution of the war, and sentenced to 2 years’ confinement in a military prison. A Federal circuit judge upheld Vallandigham’s arrest and military trial as a valid exercise of the President’s war powers. President Lincoln considered Vallandigham a “wily agitator” and was wary of making him a martyr to the Copperhead cause, so he ordered him sent through the lines to the Confederacy, and he was taken under guard to Tennessee.

For the rest of the Vallandigham story, you are invited to come to the program on October 16. Organizers say this event is a must for anyone interested in local and national history. After the program, the Civil War exhibit in the Heritage Hall Atrium will be available for guests to view.

The Heritage Hall Museum is located at 169 E. Church St., Marion OH 43302. Anyone desiring to obtain more information should call 740-387-4255.