McIntosh at­tend­ed Jack­son Coll­ege in Co­lum­bia, Ten­nes­see, and stu­died mu­sic un­der Asa Ev­er­ett. In 1875, he was ap­point­ed head of the Mu­sic De­part­ment at Van­der­bilt Un­i­ver­si­ty in Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see. In 1877, he joined the fa­cul­ty of Em­o­ry Coll­ege, Ox­ford, Georg­ia. In 1895, he left Em­o­ry Coll­ege to de­vote his time to the R. M. Mc­In­tosh Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny. He al­so served as mu­sic ed­it­or of the Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church South Pub­lish­ing House for over 30 years. His works in­clude:

• Good News, or Songs and Tunes for Sun­day Schools, Christ­ian As­so­ci­a­tions and Spe­cial Meet­ings (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: Ol­iv­er Dit­son & Com­pa­ny, 1876)
• New Life No. 2 (Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see: South­ern Meth­od­ist Publ­ish­ing House, 1886)
• Songs of Ser­vice (At­lan­ta, Georg­ia: The R. M. Mc­In­tosh Co., 1896) (mu­sic ed­it­or)

• Hall, pp. 103-7
• Hustad, pp. 285-6
• Nutter, p. 461

1. At the Beau­ti­ful Gate
2. Beautiful Christ­mas
3. For Ma­ny, Ma­ny Years
4. Gathering Home
5. I Will Up­hold Thee
6. Kingdom Is Com­ing, The
7. Los Cer­ri­tos
8. McAnally
9. Not Far from the King­dom
10. On Jor­dan’s Stormy Banks I Stand
11. Once o’er Ju­dea’s Hills by Night
12. Story of the Cross
13. Tell It Again
14. Ten Vir­gins, The
15. Wise Vir­gins, The