James McQueen McIntosh was born at Fort Brooke (now Tampa), Florida, in 1828. He was the son of Colonel James S. McIntosh, U.S.A., who was mortally wounded at the battle of Molino del Rey in the Mexican War.

Appointed to West Point from the state of Florida, young McIntosh was graduated last in the class of 1849. Thereafter he served on the frontier and was promoted captain of the 1st Cavalry in 1857.

He resigned his commission on May 7, 1861, and was first appointed captain of cavalry in the Regular Confederate Army; shortly afterwards he became Colonel of the 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles. On January 24, 1862 he was promoted a Brigadier General in the Provisional Army of the Confederacy. Commanding the cavalry of General Ben McCulloch’s wing of General Earl Van Dorn’s army at Elkhorn on March 7, 1862, McIntosh met his death within a few minutes of General McCulloch. After leading a brilliant charge of cavalry, McIntosh rushed into the thickest of the fight, again at the head of his old regiment, and was shot through the heart. His body, with that of General McCulloch, was conveyed by wagon to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he now lies buried in the National Cemetery.

McCulloch’s remains were subsequently removed to the state cemetery in Austin, Texas. General McIntosh’s brother, John Baillie McIntosh, a graduate of Annapolis, served with distinction in the Union Army during the war, attaining the brevet rank of major general in both the regular and volunteer forces.