The Copperhead Conspiracy

Episode Six: Aftermath

In the wake of Lincoln’s murder, the Confederates successfully derailed efforts to connect them to the assassination plot. We also explore what happened to the various Copperhead conspirators after the Civil War and why these events from 160 years ago still matter today.

Episode Five: Fire and Pestilence

After a planned Copperhead insurrection in Chicago is thwarted, the Confederates pivot to new methods for terrorizing Northern cities using fire, bank robberies, and biological warfare. When those fail to bring the Union to its knees, they turn their attention to kidnapping the President.

Episode Four: Oh Canada

During the Civil War, neutral Canada became a haven for both exiled Copperheads and Confederate soldiers who had escaped from Union prisons. It then became a base of operations for a planned attack on several Northern cities by a combined force of Copperheads and Confederates.

Episode Three: The Union Fights Back

The summer of 1863 was a momentous period in the Civil War with the Battle of Gettysburg and the Fall of Vicksburg. It was also a turning point in a different kind of war being fought against Copperhead insurrectionists, who were starting to be taken very seriously by Union military officials. To counteract the threat, they started to spy on their own citizens.

Episode Two: Birth of a Movement

The Copperhead movement was a coalition of several groups with varied histories and political goals, the seeds of which went back to the early years of the nation. But the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860 activated their worst fears and inspired them to come together to fight against a common foe.