Graduate Program
History
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
2012
Thesis Director
Mark Hubbard
Thesis Committee Member
Jonathan Coit
Thesis Committee Member
Newton Key
Abstract
This thesis argues that violence associated with the Copperhead movement during the American Civil War mainly sprung from local rather than national tensions. Viewing political violence within the context of one of the most divisive political regions in the nation-central Illinois, this thesis utilizes an unprecedented comprehensive reading of the region's provost marshal reports as its window into community life in postEnrollment Act central Illinois. From this newfound perspective this thesis uses those reports to create a framework to reinterpret traditional sources such as newspapers and government officials' correspondence. It finds that the upsurge in violence in postEnrollment Act central Illinois owed more to the political climate of the region where Copperheads feared local pro-war men charged with enforcing the draft and arresting deserters would utilize their newfound political power to persecute their longtime political rivals. The provost marshals did little to alleviate Copperhead political suspicions during the initial enrollments. With no political alternative to resist their neighbors acting as provost marshals, Copperheads armed and drilled themselves in preparation of defending their supposedly endangered civil and political rights. Many committed violent acts of resistance which led many pro-war men to fear for their safety and form political militias of their own. The resulting tensions boiled over into bloodshed on the streets throughout the summer of 1863, only to cool when the draft was cancelled that September and reemerge as furloughed soldiers returned home in the early months of 1864. By the time the provost marshals once again endeavored to enroll their communities the following spring, they had done much to ameliorate their suspicious neighbors' fears of an inequitable draft. Unlike the previous summer, provost marshals now actively solicited local Democrats participation in establishing the draft's fairness and equitability. This transparency alleviated Copperhead fears and obviated their preparations for community-based, militarized resistance. The most violent period in the state's wartime history was over seven months before the most divisive and, arguably, the most important presidential election in American history. Copperhead violence in central Illinois, therefore, could not have been solely motivated by national political questions, but must be understood, as should the rest of the North, within the context of just what provost marshals represented to their antiwar neighbors.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Jason A., "A neighbors' war: Provost marshals, desertion, the draft and political violence on the central Illinois home front, 1861-1865" (2012). Masters Theses. 840.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/840
