4. In the midst of the great struggle there was, of course, a great diminution of attention to matters of education. Governor Swain, with a remnant of the faculty, remained at Chapel Hill, and, with a few boys too young for service, yet retained the name and semblance of the University. Professors Hubbard, James and Charles Phillips, Hepburn, Smith, Fetter and Judge Battle were still on duty at their old posts, but Professor Martin was Colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, and almost all the students were enrolled as soldiers of the Confederate army. The sectarian colleges, male and female, were nearly all closed, and even in the common schools there was small interest manifested amid the blood and excitement of the time. 5. Many of the ablest ministers of the gospel left their churches and were faithful chaplains in the army. Great religious interest was awakened by them among the men who were so bravely battling in Virginia, and many thousands were converted and added to the churches during the revivals in the camps. 6. The recapture of Plymouth, in Washington county, on April 20th, 1864, was one of the most brilliant and successful affairs of the war. The youthful and gallant Brigadier General R. F. Hoke was sent by General Lee, in command of a division, with which he surrounded the strong fortifications and took them by assault, capturing more than three thousand prisoners. The help of the iron-clad Albemarle was very efficacious on this occasion, and her combat at the mouth of Roanoke River, a few days later, was one of the most stubborn naval engagements on record. Single-handed, Captain Cook fought and defeated a strong fleet of double-enders, and drove them, routed, from the scene. This expedition of General Hoke secured his promotion, and was in marked contrast with that of General Pickett against New Bern a few weeks before; the only incident of which, creditable to the Confederates, was General Martin's well-fought battle at Shepardsville. 7. When the spring opened, tidings came from the Wilderness of fresh battles in that region, which had been made famous the year before. General U. S. Grant had been made Commander-in- Chief of all the Federal armies, to assume the direction of affairs in Virginia. With the vast numbers at his command, he resolved upon such strategy as fell with fearful results upon his army, but it weakened the reduced ranks of the Confederates at the same time. General Grant lost more men in his march from the Rapidan to the James River than General Lee had confronting him, but it mattered not, for still fresh Federal thousands poured in to fill the places of those who fell at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and the minor combats. On our side, however, there were none to take the places of those who were killed.