The Schoolboy

By Beth Yarbrough

During the Civil War, both armies - North and South - used Grace Episcopal Church in Plymouth, NC as a hospital.

The church had barely been completed when the war arrived. Union forces were occupying the town in mid-April of 1864 when Confederate forces came calling. After a three day battle known today as the Battle of Plymouth, the Union forces were defeated and their surviving fleet of ships fled.

Plymouth is a small town sitting on the banks of the Roanoke River. It was a key strategic port, and this church, specifically, is only a few hundred feet off the water.

Following the war, the church - which had suffered damage during the battle - was repaired and enlarged and remains one of the most striking structures in Plymouth.

I came through Plymouth last weekend and spent a few minutes taking photos, knowing that I would research the stories when I came home, but I was touched and surprised at what I found.

If you have been following this page, you are familiar with the 1817 brick building in my hometown that we are in the process of restoring. Pleasant Retreat Academy was founded as a boy’s school and operated as a school for most of the 19th century, having been the early school of record for multiple young boys who later went on to distinguish themselves as historical figures in their own right.

Several of them, as boys are prone to do, left their initials carved in various spots on the structure, both inside on the window wells and outside on the soft clay bricks.

One of those boys, affectionately known to his friends as Rob Hoke, later made a name for himself in the Civil War. Confederate Major General Robert F. Hoke of Lincolnton, NC was in command of the forces that attacked the Union Army in Plymouth, NC on April 17, 1864 and, three days later, drove them out of town.

Standing on the grounds of Grace Episcopal Church last Sunday afternoon I had no plan other than to research the story of a lovely old church, having no idea that story would lead right back to my own doorstep. Funny how that works.