Francis A. Shoup
Encyclopedia
Francis Asbury Shoup was a lawyer
from Indianapolis, Indiana
, who decided to become a brigadier general
for the Confederate States Army
during the American Civil War
.
, 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 Seminole
s 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 revolver
s with holsters and trappings, believing he would serve in the Union army, and that officers would always ride horse
s 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.
, 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 was the designer of the Shoupade design for fortifications along the Chattahoochee River
, and advocated having blacks serving in the Confederate Army. During the war, he wrote texts on infantry and artillery drill. He also served as Chief of Staff for the commander of the Army of Tennessee
, John Bell Hood
.
. 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).
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
from Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, who decided to become a brigadier general
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
for the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Pre-war
Shoup was born near Laurel, IndianaLaurel, Indiana
Laurel is a town in Laurel Township, Franklin County, Indiana, United States. The population was 512 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Laurel is located at ....
, the first of nine children. He attended Indiana Asbury University in Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle, Indiana
Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It was founded in 1821 by Scots-Irish American Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylvania...
, and then went to the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, graduating in 1855 fifteenth out of a class of thirty-four. After leaving West Point, he served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
as a member of the First United States Artillery and fought against the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
s in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He decided to retire on January 10, 1860, to become a lawyer in Indianapolis.
Shoup was serving as a leader of an Indianapolis Zouave
Zouave
Zouave was the title given to certain light infantry regiments in the French Army, normally serving in French North Africa between 1831 and 1962. The name was also adopted during the 19th century by units in other armies, especially volunteer regiments raised for service in the American Civil War...
militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, 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 revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
s with holsters and trappings, believing he would serve in the Union army, and that officers would always ride horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s 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
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
, 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 ShilohBattle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
, he served as chief of artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
under William J. Hardee
William J. Hardee
William Joseph Hardee was a career U.S. Army officer, serving during the Second Seminole War and fighting in the Mexican-American War...
. In the summer of 1862 he started serving in Arkansas as Inspector General
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
under Major General
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
Thomas C. Hindman
Thomas C. Hindman
Thomas Carmichael Hindman, Jr. was a lawyer, United States Representative from the 1st Congressional District of Arkansas, and a Major General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War....
. On September 12, 1862, the First Confederate Congress
First Confederate Congress
The First Confederate Congress was the first regular term of the legislature of the Confederate States of America. Members of the First Confederate Congress were chosen in elections mostly held on 6 November 1861.-Sessions:...
made him a brigadier general, after which he commanded Hindman's Second Division. After the Battle of Prairie Grove
Battle of Prairie Grove
The Battle of Prairie Grove was a battle of the American Civil War fought on 7 December 1862, that resulted in a tactical stalemate but essentially secured northwest Arkansas for the Union.-Strategic situation: Union:...
, he went back across the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
After he was captured in the Battle of Vicksburg
Battle of Vicksburg
The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C...
, 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
Battle of Atlanta
The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed...
. He was the designer of the Shoupade design for fortifications along the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
, and advocated having blacks serving in the Confederate Army. During the war, he wrote texts on infantry and artillery drill. He also served as Chief of Staff for the commander of the Army of Tennessee
Army of Tennessee
The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating in most of the significant battles in the Western Theater...
, John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness...
.
Post-war
After the war, Shoup became a professor at the University of the South, in Sewanee, TennesseeSewanee, Tennessee
Sewanee is an unincorporated locality in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States, treated by the U.S. Census as a census-designated place . The population was 2,361 at the 2000 census...
. He spent time as a professor at the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
. Shoup was also an Episcopal
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
rector and wrote books about mathematics and metaphysics.
Upon his death on September 4, 1896, in Columbia, Tennessee
Columbia, Tennessee
Columbia is a city in Maury County, Tennessee, United States. The 2008 population was 34,402 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. It is the county seat of Maury County....
, 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
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
placed a historical marker honoring Shoup at Conwell Cemetery in Laurel, Indiana
Laurel, Indiana
Laurel is a town in Laurel Township, Franklin County, Indiana, United States. The population was 512 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Laurel is located at ....
. 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 WarIndianapolis in the American Civil WarDuring the American Civil War, Indianapolis, the state capital of Indiana, was a major base of support for the Union. The governor of Indiana, Oliver Hazard Perry Morton, was a major supporter of President Abraham Lincoln and he quickly made Indianapolis a rallying point for Union Army forces as...