During the American Civil War, Butler County was home to a large Peace Democrat, or Copperhead, faction led by Ohio Senator Clement Vallandigham, whose followers generally opposed the war, the military draft, and abolition of slavery and preferred a negotiated settlement even if slavery remained intact. After Vallandigham was arrested, convicted of disloyalty to the Union, and exiled to the Confederacy in 1863, his support grew rapidly. In July 1863, John Cregmile, a founding member of Bunker Hill Universalist Church, joined local Copperheads in forming the Butler County Mutual Protection Company, but the church, whose generally progressive Universalist members favored causes such as women's rights, abolition, and ending capital punishment, did not approve. Most of the church's 134 members sided with the Union, and the resulting religious and political pressure led Cregmile to leave the company. Divisions remained within the congregation: Copperhead John G. Agnew left the church in 1863, writing that his course during the war did not comport with the Christian character, while Jonathan Bressler fought for the Confederacy and was buried at Bunker Hill Cemetery, and his brother Mathias and family member John Bressler fought for the Union, with John dying at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864. The church's history also included its organization in 1854, completion of its building in 1856, wartime losses among members including Jefferson E. Trembley of the 68th Indiana Infantry after Chickamauga in 1863 and John M. Bressler of the 26th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1864, later milestones such as a Sunday School resignation in 1884 over dancing, the area's first Sunday School Christmas tree in 1887, withdrawal from active membership in 1895 and readmission in 1900, the first motion picture shown in western Butler County there in 1902, closure in 1912, and destruction by fire in 1924.