Francis Asbury Shoup is remembered for service in the Confederate States of America army from 1861 to 1865 and for the "Shoupade" fortification design; he fought in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Atlanta and advocated recruitment of African Americans for the Confederate army. After the war, he became a university professor, published author, and Episcopal rector. Born near present-day Laurel in 1834, he attended Indiana Asbury University in Greencastle, graduated in 1855 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, served in the Federal army from 1855 to 1860, resigned to pursue a law career, lived in Indianapolis circa 1860, and died in 1896; he was buried at Sewanee University Cemetery in Tennessee.