Wilcox County Confederate veteran and Freemason, David McIntosh Sr., lived to be 91 years old

Final resting place of David McIntosh Sr.

This coming Friday will mark 100 years since the death of one of the toughest Confederate veterans to ever call Wilcox County home – David McIntosh Sr.

McIntosh, who was born in Mississippi in 1826, passed away in Camden on Feb. 23, 1918 at the age of 91. His obituary appeared in the Feb. 28, 1918 edition of The Progressive Era newspaper, and the newspaper noted that he was a “true Southerner,” who “early in the War Between the States enlisted in the Confederate services as a member of Co. D, Third Alabama Cavalry.”

His obituary also noted that when he died, McIntosh was one of the oldest men in Wilcox County, and when you take a close look at his service record, you realize that it’s a small miracle that he even survived the war. According to records at the state archives in Montgomery, the 3^rd Alabama Cavalry was organized in 1862 and included several companies that had already fought at Shiloh, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Later, the regiment moved into Kentucky, where it was “engaged in daily conflicts with the enemy” and “was on constant and arduous duty during the remainder of the war,” state records reflect.

Locations where the regiment saw action included Aiken, Bentonville, Bramlet’s Station, Chapel Hill, Chickamauga, Decatur, Fayetteville, Kingston, Knoxville, Macon, Mossy Creek, Murfreesboro, Perryville, Raleigh, Shelbyville, Strawberry Plains, Winchester and in the Dalton-Atlanta campaign. With each passing engagement, the regiment “continuously” suffered casualties and when the regiment finally surrendered at the end of the war in 1865 it had been “reduced by its losses to a skeleton,” records reflect.

McIntosh was among the few survivors, and when he returned to Wilcox County, he turned to a life of farming. According to his obituary, he owned a farm in what was called “Mims beat,” near the Neenah community. According to the Historical Atlas of Alabama, the Neenah community was located southeast of Camden, between the Fatama and Rosebud communities.

McIntosh was also a longtime resident of Camden, having bought the “Jerry Fail residence” in Camden when he returned home from the war. McIntosh was also a prominent member of Dale Masonic Lodge in Camden, and his funeral was conducted by his Masonic brothers and Presbyterian minister H.W. Wallace.

While McIntosh survived everything that the war could throw at him, many of his comrades were not so lucky. According to “Men of Wilcox: They Wore the Gray” by Ouida Starr Woodson, known Wilcox County soldiers in McIntosh’s company who died during the war included Jacob Auchurstz, Tom Boykin, John Callery, George Carter, Bill Cunningham, David Dortch, James Dudley, W.W. Dallas, Jerry Fowler, Henry Hilman, Marion Hopkins, Billy Land, Robert Merriman, Henry Oliver, David Outlaw, Robert A. Smith, Bill Smith, Elbert Smith and George W. Williamson.

If you visit the old, historic Camden Cemetery today, you will find the somber Confederate monument that was erected in memory of these men and all others from Wilcox County who died during the Civil War. Fittingly, just a short walk away, you’ll also find the grave of David McIntosh Sr., who outlived many of his comrades by more than half a century. Today, a century after his death, only the memory of this tough, old soldier remains as he rests in peace beneath the soil of his home for so many years.