The Northfield Historical Society is pleased to offer “Southern independence ends at Appomattox Courthouse,” a presentation by Jim Stark on Thursday, February 19, 6:30 p.m. at the Northfield Historical Society in downtown Northfield. The event is free and open to the public.
Stark, a former president of the Northfield and Rice County historical societies, will cover Grant’s laying siege to Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864-65. He will also explore Gen. Sherman’s March to the Sea and his movements north into South Carolina and into the birthplace of secession.
With the Confederate government fleeing south to North Carolina, the south was desperately searching for a miracle to avoid being remembered as a proverbial “Lost Cause.” Stark also will discuss how Confederate President Davis tried to lift the declining morale of the southern people during the final stages of the war.