War Democrats
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War Democrats were those who broke with the majority of the Democratic Party and supported the military policies of President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. To accommodate them the Republicans used the name "Union Party" in the 1864 elections. Lincoln appointed many to high civil and military offices to win over some Democratic votes. Some joined the Republican party, while others remained Democrats. Their opponents in the Democratic party included Peace Democrats and Copperheads.
Prominent War Democrats included:
- John Brough, Governor of Ohio.
- Ben Butler, Congressman from Massachusetts; general
- John Adams Dix, of New York. Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, general
- Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from Illinois; Democratic Party's northern candidate in the presidential election of 1860; he died when the war was just a few weeks old.
- Ulysses S. Grant, storekeeper in Illinois; general
- Joseph Holt, Kentucky; Buchanan's Secretary of War; Lincoln's Judge-Advocate General of the Army
- Andrew Johnson, U.S. senator and then military governor of Tennessee, elected Vice President in 1864; President 1865-69.
- John A. Logan, Congressman from Illinois; general
- George B. McClellan, railroad president; general; Democratic presidential nominee in 1864
- Joel Parker, Governor of New Jersey
- David Tod, Governor of Ohio
- Edwin M. Stanton, Ohio; Buchanan's Attorney General; Lincoln's Secretary of War
Reference
- Silbey, Joel H. A Respectable Minority: The Democratic Party in the Civil War Era, 1860-1868 (1977)
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