A Florida-born descendant of Revolutionary War heroes, who later found himself stationed in Fort Smith as a member of the United States Army in the months leading up to the Civil War before joining the Confederate Army, came back to spend eternity in a pine box at the FS National Cemetery after being killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge
James McQueen McIntosh was a career American soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the War Between The States.
A popular and noted leader of calvary factions in his short time in the conflict, he was impulsive, fearless, a little reckless and he definitely died the way he would have preferred...with his boots on in the heat of battle.
McIntosh was born in 1828 at Fort Brooke (near present-day Tampa), Florida Territory, while his Georgia-born father was on active duty in the U.S. Army.
His younger brother was future Union general John Baillie McIntosh, who was wounded in battle and eventually had to have a leg amputated,although he continued to serve. They were descended from a Revolutionary War commander, and their great-great uncle was General Lachlan McIntosh.
Their father, a colonel, was killed in action during the Battle of Molino del Rey, one of the bloodiest engagements of the Mexican-American War as part of the Battle for Mexico City.
It was fought in September 1847 between Mexican forces under General Antonio Léon against an American force under Major General Winfield Scott at El Molino del Rey near Mexico City, meaning McIntosh lost his father to the ravages of war at the age of nineteen.
Probably because of that fact, James McIntosh received an appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, but proved to be a poor student and graduated last in the Class of 1849.
He first served in the infantry as a second lieutenant before transferring to the cavalry and serving on the Western frontier.
He was stationed at Fort Smith when several Southern states, including his native Florida, began seceding in early 1861.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, McIntosh resigned his commission and joined the Confederate cause as colonel of the 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles.
He saw combat action in the August 1861 Battle of Wilson's Creek. Although he was courageous and daring, McIntosh was also impulsive and reckless, preferring to lead his men from the front instead of concentrating on the duties of a brigade commander.
In the late autumn, Confederate troops undertook a campaign to subdue the Native American Union sympathizers in Indian Territory and consolidate control.
Colonel Douglas H. Cooper, commanding the Indian Department, planned a coordinated attack with McIntosh on the enemy camp at Chustenahlah. McIntosh left Fort Gibson on December 22, with 1,380 men.
On Christmas Day, he learned that Cooper’s force was delayed, but he decided to attack the next day, despite being outnumbered. McIntosh assaulted the camp at noon on the 26th, utterly routing Chief Opothleyahola’s band of Creeks and Seminoles.
As a result of his decisive victory, McIntosh received a promotion to brigadier general in January 1862.
At the Battle of Pea Ridge, he commanded a brigade in the division of Ben McCulloch, who was killed by Union infantry fire.
Shortly after assuming division command, McIntosh was leading an advance when he was struck and killed by a bullet, less than fifteen minutes after McCulloch's death and according to reports, fell on the battlefield at almost the same spot where McCulloch had perished.
James Queen McIntosh never married. In his surviving correspondence from the Civil War, he mentioned time-and-time again that "the military was his spouse and his home was wherever the next battle was to be fought".
His final and forever home--at least for his mortal remains --is in an older part of the Fort Smith National Cemetery.
He is also part of a memorial to Unknown Confederate Dead, made of marble, that commemorates McIntosh, as well as Brigadier General Alexander E. Steen, a Missourian who was killed at the Battle of Prairie Grove.
