Francis A. Shoup

Francis Asbury Shoup
File:Francis Asbury Shoup
Born	(1834-03-22)March 22, 1834 Franklin County, Indiana
Died	Columbia, Tennessee
Place of burial	University of the South cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America Confederate States of America
Years of service	1855–1860 (USA) 1861–1865 (CSA)
Rank	Second Lieutenant (USA) Brigadier General (CSA)
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Shiloh Battle of Prairie Grove Battle of Vicksburg Battle of Atlanta
Other work	professor

Francis Asbury Shoup (March 22, 1834 – September 4, 1896), a lawyer from Indianapolis, Indiana, became a brigadier general for the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Pre-war

Shoup was born near Laurel, Indiana, the first of nine children. He attended Indiana Asbury University in Greencastle, Indiana, and then went to the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1855 fifteenth out of a class of thirty-four. After leaving West Point, he served in the United States Army as a member of the First United States Artillery and fought against the Seminoles in Florida. He decided to retire on January 10, 1860, to become a lawyer in Indianapolis.

Shoup was serving as a leader of an Indianapolis Zouave militia, but once the Civil War started, he moved to Florida to fight for the Confederacy, proclaiming he had "aristocratic inclinations and admiration for the South.". This shocked those in the Indianapolis militia, who had loved him as friend, and even gave him a special set of revolvers with holsters and trappings, believing he would serve in the Union army, and that officers would always ride horses and thus would need such a set. All Indianapolis reported of the incident was that Shoup had resigned from the militia.

In 1860, he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where the Governor commissioned him a Lieutenant. He was actually admitted to the bar in Florida, although whether he actually practiced law is obscure.

War life

At the Battle of Shiloh, he served as chief of artillery under William J. Hardee. In the summer of 1862 he started serving in Arkansas as Inspector General under Major General Thomas C. Hindman. On September 12, 1862, the First Confederate Congress made him a brigadier general, after which he commanded Hindman's Second Division. After the Battle of Prairie Grove, he went back across the Mississippi River.

After he was captured in the Battle of Vicksburg, he met some compatriots from his Indianapolis militia days, but they rejected him for fighting for the Confederacy. After he was paroled, he went to Georgia and fought in the Battle of Atlanta. He designed a defensive line and, following its approval by General Johnston, oversaw the construction in late June of 1864 of what would become known as Johnston's River Line. Shoup's design consisted of what would eventually total 36 unique forts later called "Shoupades." While the River Line was deemed an engineering success, its potential force was negated when General Sherman's army crossed the Chattahoochee north of the line. Johnston's River Line is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During the war, he wrote texts on infantry and artillery drill and advocated for blacks to serve in the Confederate Army. He also served as Chief of Staff for the commander of the Army of Tennessee, John Bell Hood.

Post-war

After the war, Shoup became a professor at the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee. He spent time as a professor at the University of Mississippi. Shoup was also an Episcopal rector and wrote books about mathematics and metaphysics.

Upon his death on September 4, 1896, in Columbia, Tennessee, he was buried in the cemetery of University of the South.

In 2006 the Indiana Historical Bureau, Franklin County Historical Society, and the Indiana Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans placed a historical marker honoring Shoup at Conwell Cemetery in Laurel, Indiana. Shoup Park and historical marker is also located on the campus of the University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee).

See also

• Indianapolis in the American Civil War