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Ye book of Copperheads — Story, Setting & Ideas
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Project Gutenberg
2014
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United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Poetry; Caricatures and cartoons -- United States
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Words
5,077
Reading time
23 min
Text sections
2
This digital edition of Ye book of Copperheads — Story, Setting & Ideas is described by source-level measurements including 5,077 words, 23 min estimated reading time, and 2 detected text sections.
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Project Gutenberg record #45274
A satirical Civil War-era collection of limericks and epigrams targeting Copperheads, using animal imagery, Shakespearean epigraphs, and shifting verse forms to mock anti-Union sentiment.
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YE BOOK OF COPPERHEADS
YE BOOK OF COPPERHEADS
"_ Continue this united League."--Richard the Third, III. 1_.
`|There once was a Copperhead snake tried to Bite Uncle Sam by mistake;
```But the Seven League Boot on old Uncle Sam's foot
````Soon crushed this pestiferous snake.
|A soldier came back from the war, with many an honorable scar;
```But the Copperheads cried, "Served you right if you'd died
````In this curst _Abolitionist_ war!"
|The old Tory dragon is dead, but she left us some eggs in her stead;
``Two were smashed in the yolk, but the third hatched and broke,
```And out came a vile Copperhead.
|There was once a young giant asleep, and round him two serpents did creep;
```But he stopped their vile breath, and squeezed them to death,
````This giant aroused from his sleep.
|There once was a Copperhead vile, who attempted to damage a
```So he tried it in truth, but soon broke every tooth
````On that rusty and crusty Old File.
"_Nor doth this Wood lack Worlds."--Midsummer Night's Dream, II. 2._
|There was an old Snake in New York said for peace all the people should work;
``"But if war _must_ come, let us fight here _at home!!_"
```Quoth sanguiloquent Ben of New York.
_"One of those who worship dirty gods."--Cymbeline, III. 8._
|There once was a chap named Vallandigham, whom the Copperheads chose for commanding 'em;
```But a trip to the South soon silenced his mouth,
````And the world as a _Tory_ is branding him.
|With War Democrats Seymour's for war; with Peace cowards for peace he'll hurrah;
```Let him get in the way of the mower some day,
````And He'll find there's no quibbling with war.
|The Copperhead lotterie hath a curious policie;
``For a man of low rank can draw naught save a blank,
````Unless an accomplice he be.
|There once was a twistified Reed who took for his pattern Snake-Weed;
```Till the Copperheads all, great, middling, and small
````Seemed _straight_ by the side of this Reed.
|There's a character very well known, Who bubbles for ages has blown;
```But the best he has made since at _bubbling_ he played,
````From a Copperhead pipe have been thrown.
````_"And what Stock he springs of!!"--Coriolan, II. 3._
|Copper stocks are uncertain to buy, though this Copperhead's stock's very high;
```But we still might improve this stock of his love,
````By adding the _right_ sort of tie.
|There was an old War Horse, a clerical, who thought our Republic chimerical;
```"For the Union," he said, "he never had prayed,"
````This mordacious old War Horse cholerical.
```_" There is no goodness in the worm,"--Antony and Cleopatra, V. 2._
|The abominable Copperhead worms! With their wriggles, and twists, and their squirms!
```But the gardener, they say, will soon find out a way
````To kill the vile Copperhead worms.
```_"There are many complaints, Davy, about that."--King Henry IV., V. 1._
|There was a Stern Statesman astute, who so often went in to _recruit_,
```That a Rattlesnake fat revolved in his hat,
````While a Copperhead squirmed in his boot.
```_"So much dishonor my fair stars."--King Richard 111., IV. 1._
|The traitor our Common Cents mars, And on Liberty plainly he wars,
```Taking Freedom away from the Union, I say,
````When he cuts out her head from the stars.
_"And so the lion vanished."--Midsummer Night's Dream, V. 1._
|While it did us great harm, Abolition was the height of the Lion's ambition;
```Now with Copperhead _tale_ he stings himself pale.
````And furaciously scorns Abolition.
```_"Will this Wood take fire?"--Merry Wives of Windsor, V. 5._
|Union, a fagot we take; But 'twould be a tremendous mistake,
```To use rotten old Wood which never was good,
````And then bind it up with a Snake.
|There once was a Patriot whose rigor reached such a remarkable figure,
```That he'd rather go down in the water and drown
````Than be saved by the help of a nigger.
|There once were some rascals near Reading thought fighting was easy as wedding;
```But being well kicked, and most terribly licked,
````They mournfully mizzled from Reading.
_"O wicked Wall!"--Midsummer Night's Dream, V. 1._
|There once was an old _party_-Wall, quite _cracked_ and just ready to fall;
```The Copperheads came and completed its shame
````By sticking their Bills on this Wall.
|There once was a bottle of Porter, which the Copperheads thought was all water;
```But when the cork popped, the Copperheads dropped,
````And were stunned by the _vim_ of the Porter!
|There once was a Snake who said "Hey! There's an Eagle I'll take for my prey!"
```But the bird with his bill did the Copperhead kill,
````And bore him in triumph away.
```_"Exit shall be strangling a snake."--Love's Labor's Lost, V. 1._
|The Copperhead traitors all, our army "base hirelings" call
Ye Book of Copperheads opens with a limerick about a snake that tries to bite Uncle Sam and is crushed by a Seven League Boot. This initial image establishes the collection’s central conceit: Copperheads—Northern Democrats opposed to the Civil War—are repeatedly figured as serpents, worms, or other low creatures. The verse form itself is a clue to the work’s method: short, punchy limericks and epigrams that rely on puns, exaggerated rhymes, and abrupt punchlines. The book’s table of contents lists sections such as “Gotham-Mites,” “Checker-Boarders and Keystoners,” and “Modern Heathen-Ians,” hinting at a geographic and political taxonomy of its targets. Shakespearean epigraphs preface many poems, framing the satire within a mock-heroic or theatrical register.
Animal Imagery and the Serpent Motif
The most persistent image in the collection is the snake. Copperheads are called “vile,” “pestiferous,” and “abominable … worms” that “wriggle, and twist, and squirm.” The opening limerick literalizes the metaphor: a Copperhead snake tries to bite Uncle Sam and is crushed. Later poems extend the bestiary to include a “young giant” (the Union) who squeezes serpents to death, and an “old Tory dragon” whose egg hatches a Copperhead. The animal comparisons are not merely insulting; they create a consistent symbolic vocabulary. A poem about a “twistified Reed” who takes “Snake-Weed” as his pattern suggests that Copperheads are not only venomous but also crooked, twisting away from straight Unionist lines. The effect is to dehumanize the opposition while reinforcing the moral clarity of the war effort.
Shakespearean Epigraphs as Framing Devices
Each section is prefaced by a line from Shakespeare, often wrenched from context to serve a satirical purpose. For instance, “Nor doth this Wood lack Worlds” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream introduces a limerick about an “old Snake in New York” who advocates peace at home. The epigraph from Coriolanus—“And what Stock he springs of!!”—precedes a poem about Copperhead stock being “very high” but in need of “the right sort of tie.” These quotations do not deepen the literary allusion so much as they provide a mock-learned veneer. They also create a structural rhythm: the reader moves from a lofty Shakespearean line to a crude limerick, a juxtaposition that underscores the gap between noble rhetoric and base politics. The effect is cumulative, turning the book into a kind of anti-masque.
Geographic and Political Targets
The table of contents lists sections named after places and groups: “Gotham-Mites” (New Yorkers), “Checker-Boarders and Keystoners” (possibly Pennsylvania and border-state politicians), and “Modern Heathen-Ians.” These labels suggest the authors aimed to map Copperhead sentiment onto specific regions and factions. The limericks themselves name figures like Vallandigham, a prominent Ohio Copperhead, and “Ben of New York,” likely Benjamin Wood, a Democratic congressman. The poem about “War Democrats” contrasts Seymour’s vacillation between war and peace. This geographic specificity grounds the satire in real political geography, making the book a kind of versified atlas of disloyalty. The reader is invited to recognize types and individuals, not just abstract villains.
Verse Forms and Rhetorical Tactics
The collection relies almost entirely on limericks and short epigrammatic stanzas. The limerick’s anapestic meter and AABBA rhyme scheme lend themselves to comic deflation: a serious subject is squeezed into a bouncy, almost nursery-rhyme form. Many poems end with a sharp twist—the snake is crushed, the tooth is broken, the mouth is silenced. Others use puns: “Copper stocks are uncertain to buy” plays on the double meaning of “stock.” The epigraphs from Shakespeare add a layer of mock-erudition, as if the authors are proving that even the Bard would condemn Copperheads. The brevity of each poem means the book can be read in short bursts, but the cumulative effect is relentless. The reader is never allowed to forget the central equation: Copperhead = snake = traitor.
This short collection rewards attention to its structural patterns: the alternation of Shakespearean epigraph and vernacular verse, the bestiary of snake and worm imagery, and the precise geographic naming of targets. Because the excerpts are incomplete, the full range of sections and targets remains unknown, but the surviving poems show a consistent satirical method. Readers interested in Civil War-era propaganda, political cartooning in verse, or the history of the Democratic Party’s anti-war wing will find this a concentrated example of how humor was weaponized during the conflict.
There’s something oddly tender about how that Copperhead book, for all its snarling satire, still aches with a lost sense of order—words trying to hold a war together. It reminds me of the quieter ache in Very Short Stories and Verses For Children — Context and Discussion, where the world feels just as fragile, only smaller and softer. Both leave me holding my breath a little.
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