Submitted by: Sid Stroupe & Mike Stroupe; Edited and vetted by Cheri Todd Molter
At the age of twenty-five, Alfred J. Stroup was conscripted into the Confederate States Army at McDowell County, N.C.. Serving as a private, Stroup was mustered into Company K of the 22nd Infantry Regiment, North Carolina.
For unknown reasons, Alfred deserted to the Union on June 11, 1863. He was confined in Washington D.C. at the Old Capital Prison but released ten days later, on June 24, 1863, after pledging the “Oath of Allegiance” to the United States of America. Afterward, according to the military records found, Alfred requested that the he “not be paroled or exchanged to the Rebels” but instead be “permitted to proceed to and remain within any of the Loyal States.”