During the American Civil War, D. N. McIntosh organized a regiment and joined the Confederate States Army as a colonel.

He was notable for recruiting and organizing the 1st Creek Mounted Volunteers and for leading them in several battles in Indian Territory.

[2][a] He was the youngest son of William McIntosh, a prominent Creek chief of the Lower Towns, and his second wife Susannah Rowe/Roe[4] (also referred to as Ree).

[5] Daniel was about 22 years younger than his elder half-brother, Chillicothe (known as Chilly), who was the eldest child of William and his first wife Susannah Rowe/Roe.

After his father was executed by order of the Creek National Council in 1825 for having ceded communal Creek territory to the United States in violation of tribal law, the surviving members of the family moved to Indian Territory in 1828, where they settled on the Verdigris River.

Their children were Benjamin William, Cooper, Charles E., and Elizabeth "Lizzie" McIntosh.

McIntosh was organizing the 3rd Creek Cavalry Regiment, C.S.A., which would have entitled him to the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate Army.

Colonel McIntosh's Regiment was one of General Stand Watie's units having the distinction of being one of the last Confederate military units to surrender to Union military forces on 23 June 1865 near Doaksville, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory.

It required that they emancipate all their slaves and offer those persons who wanted to stay in Creek territory full membership and rights in the tribe, including shares of land.