James M. Malbone was the son of Elizabeth Moore Malbone and James Malbone. Elizabeth Moore Malbone was the daughter of William Moore and Elizabeth Gornto Moore. James was born in 1828. He was noted to be a private tutor for a Princess Anne County family. At the age of 34 years old, he enlisted in Company B of the 6th Virginia Infantry. Soon after his enlistment, he was elected to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. During his military service he served with his regiment during the battle of the Seven Days and Malvern Hill from June 25 to July 1, 1862. From September through November 1862 he was a patient in General Hospital No. 7 at Richmond, Virginia with jaundice. Upon returning to duty, he was encamped at Fredericksburg from November through December 1862 in which he participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. 2nd Lieutenant James M. Malbone was wounded on May 3, 1863 during the battle of Chancellorsville and suffered a partial fracture of the upper right arm. From May 1863 through February 1864 James was absent sick in Richmond spending most of that time in General Hospital No. 4. In April of 1864, James was ordered to light duty on detached service. He spent much of the remainder of the war, from April through October of 1864, at Gordonsville with a brief stay at Wilcox farm in August of 1864. In February of 1865, he was still of detached duty at the Van Pelt Farm near Petersburg, Virginia. As per his military records, it is unclear if his arm was amputated as a result of his wound but with the amount of time in convalescence and the light duty orders, it most likely was more than just a broken arm. Following the war, James M. Malbone returned to Princess Anne County and continued to hold jobs as a school teacher and Commissioner of Chancery in Princess Anne County Court System. He was a charter member of the original Princess Anne Camp #96 of the United Confederate Veterans. James M. Malbone never married or had any children. James died in 1912 at the age of 84 years old.

His diary from the civil war was found in 2014. 150-year old Confederate diary gives up its secrets to volunteer code breaker. They were able to read most of his secret entries. It is currently in the New York State Military Museum. "We look into the diary of a Confederate soldier, which contains several encrypted passages. In this article, we unravel the method of encipherment and discover an unexpected entry of some significance—regarding the wife of the President of the CSA."