James M. Ingram was born abt. 1825/26 in Illinois. His father was Pleasant B. Ingram, who on 10-6-1833 married Celinda/Selinda Beals in Coles Co., IL, per their marriage record. However, Pleasant had four children, including James M., born before that date and it is likely that this was his 2nd marriage. So, James’ mother is thought to be Pleasant’s first wife, name unknown.

James always signed his name as James M. Ingram but hidden in one land record for James was the answer to the mystery of his middle name. The M stands for Miller - James Miller Ingram.

In the late 1840's, James and his father moved from Illinois to Benton Co., AR, based on tax records for Benton Co. In abt. 1847, James married Amanda Graham (b. abt. 1828; d. abt. 1855). Born in Arkansas, Amanda was the daughter of William Peter Graham and Leah Bloyd. James and Amanda show up in the 1850 Benton Co., AR, census with a 2-year-old son, William, who was born in Arkansas.

James and Amanda had 4 children:
• William (b. 1847/48; d. abt. 1863, reportedly died of malaria during the Civil War)
• Silas Graham "Sol" (b. 9-5-1850; d. 5-16-1926)
• Eliza Jane (b. 1851/52; d. 8-16-1885)
• Lucinda Marinda "Rindy" (b. 12-23-1854; d. 8-13-1937)

It appears that sometime about 1855 Amanda died, and James married second to Sarah Elizabeth Easley. James and Sarah had 5 children. Notice the gap in birth dates between 1861 and 1868, which corresponds to the Civil War era.
• Francis Marion "Frank" (b. Sept. 1857; d. 6-12-1923)
• Nancy Elizabeth (b. 1858/59; d. 3-21-1889)
• Sarah Celinda (b. 10-13-1861; d. 7-11-1895)
• Virginia Lee (b. 3-3-1868; d. 7-21-1948)
• James M. (b. 1869/70; d. abt. 1890)

Extensive research in the land records of Benton Co., AR, shows that James bought and sold multiple land properties throughout the period from 4-3-1852 to as late as 1-29-1870, which was just 7 months before he was killed. In abt. 1860, he bought land in neighboring Washington Co., although the property was right on the border of Benton Co. That property was sold after the war on 8-14-1867 and he returned to Benton Co. where he eventually bought the same land that his dad owned at the time of his death. The legal description of that land is N ½ SE ¼, Section 2, Township 18N, Range 29W and James remained on that land until his death.

During the Civil War, James was a captain in the 6th Provisional Company of the Confederacy, Benton Co. AR. He was what they call a Partisan soldier, which basically means that his group was not associated with a formal Regiment. His group was notorious for interrupting the Union supply and correspondence lines, a fact that drove the Union officers crazy. Hard as they tried, they could not catch him. It is no surprise that the Union characterized him as a murderer who infested the area.

One noteworthy officer to express this frustration with Ingram was Lieutenant Colonel Albert Bishop, who commanded Union troops serving out of Fayetteville, AR. Right after the war, Bishop wrote his memoirs in a book titled Loyalty on the Frontier, and in that book he mentions that on 2-27-1863 James wrote a letter in red ink that was delivered to Bishop’s Union headquarters in Fayetteville. James was an uneducated man, and the letter was written in poorly spelled English, a fact that Colonel Bishop mocked in his book by purposely including the entire text of the letter in the book. The subject of the letter was James’ disapproval of Union soldiers hurting innocent men, women, and children. James in his own words revealed his true values – don’t hurt innocent men, women and children. He said that he had not done that, and he wanted the Union to quit doing it. He felt strongly enough about it to send this letter and it was written in red ink, which was something people did back then when they wanted to make a strong point. Did James, like all soldiers, have to do unspeakable things during the war? Yes, of course he did, it was war. But he drew the line at hurting innocent men, women, and children. (see letter’s transcription below)

During the war, reportedly in 1864, James M. Ingram was involved in a wartime killing of John Dudley Stone, a Union solder from Washington Co. who was reportedly involved in killing some Confederate soldiers in a cave along the White River in Benton Co. The best source for these cave killings is an account by a woman named Susan E. Kendrick. She was a young girl of 14 or 15 when the incident took place. Several men were hiding in the cave and some were wounded. Each morning Susan would wade the river to take them food and bandages. She did that 3 or 4 times, and one morning discovered all the men in the cave had been killed sometime during the night, and their bodies horribly mutilated.

In retaliation, James and some of his men went to the home of John Dudley asking to speak to him. John Dudley and his 13-year-old son John M. were hiding in a nearby cave and Ingram found them in the cave. He called for them to come out and said he would not hurt them, but one thing led to another and John Dudley ended up getting shot. His young son John witnessed that killing and swore that someday he would kill Ingram. The best source for this information is the family of John M. that I mention below.

Sadly, this is an example of neighbor vs. neighbor. Land records show that James knew John Dudley because James sold land to John Dudley and his brother Thomas G. before the war on 5-22-1858. One inaccurate story says that James killed William Ingram of Barry Co., Mo. That is not correct.

Several accounts of Ingram’s Civil War activities have been published, but many contain errors. One such error said that he operated out of Barry Co., MO. There may have been some man named James Ingram there, but it was not this James M. Ingram. A master's thesis written by University of Arkansas student Jay Anthony Prier gives extensive detail on the Civil War activities of James M. Ingram in the Benton Co. and Washington Co. area. This thesis is well-written and impeccably sourced.

Another account says that James went to Texas after the war and returned shortly before he was murdered. That is not correct. James shows up in multiple land records and tax records in Benton County between 1867 and 1870. In addition, he served as executor of his father’s probate estate in Benton Co., with the earliest reference to him in court records being in 1867 and the last of his multiple court signatures was dated 4-19-1869. He never left the Benton Co./Washington Co. area.

After the war, James returned to his farming roots and became a self-taught minister. He shows up in the 1870 census in White River Twp., Benton Co., AR. Sadly, it was while going to Roberts School House near Sonora, Washington Co., AR, on 9-4-1870 to preach that John M. Stone followed through on his promise to kill James. Again, there are several different reports about where James was killed, but the best source is the newspaper article published right after the murder which says he was confronted by John Stone, fired upon, and eventually shot in the back. (see transcription below)

James is buried at the intersection of Primrose Rd. & Phillips Rd. in Lowell, Benton Co., AR. All that remains now is a nice historical marker placed by our Ingram family at the site of what is thought to have once been a Graham family cemetery on land owned by Nelson Reed Graham. James’ first wife was a niece of Nelson Reed and a brother of James’ second wife is also buried there.

Many have wondered what happened to young John M. Stone. In 2012, I made contact with someone who descends from his brother James Henry "Henry" Stone, and this person’s father actually knew John M. This family spoke to John M. about the John Dudley and the James M. Ingram killings and is an excellent source because the information came directly from John M.

After killing Ingram, John M. Stone went to California and worked for a while at his uncle Willis Shackelford Stone’s ranch near Sonora in Tuolumne Co. Between 1873 and 1886, he shows up in voter registration records as a farmer living in Algerine, Tuolumne Co., CA. Between 1886 and 1894, he moved to Fresno Co. He lived in several places in that county before eventually buying a 360-acre ranch that eventually turned into a nearly 3,000-acre successful cattle ranch.

In his personal life, he married Elizabeth A. Morrison and they had one daughter named Miami. She married William Loper and had one daughter, Wilda Ruth “Ruth” Loper. Ruth married Floyd R. Sohm, but they had no children, so the line stops there. John’s family describes him as a “character,” stubborn and proud, with strong convictions. He was paranoid about being caught, reclusive and did not allow many people, even family, to visit him on his ranch. He built a lookout at the entrance to his ranch and often slept with his shotgun in that lookout.

John M. Stone died at the age of 92 on 5-1-1943 in Clovis, Fresno Co., CA, from pneumonia and heart problems, per his death certificate. He is buried at Academy Cemetery in Clovis. (see FindAGrave memorial #11964413) When asked about the killing of Ingram, he said he had no regrets, he would do it again.

Carole Dolisi Beaver
2-gr-granddaughter of James M. Ingram

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Fayetteville Democrat, September 17, 1870
Murder of James Ingram.

Editors Democrat: I was on the ground at the time James Ingram was murdered, at the Roberts school house, on Sunday the 4th inst. I came up just before the shooting took place. I saw several men with revolvers buckled on, and thought strange to see such a thing at church. In standing around I could see a good deal of secret talking among the crowd that was armed. In a few moments two wagons drove up, and I noticed that they attracted considerable attention, particularly with the men who were armed; and upon Mr. Ingram coming up into the crowd I still noticed that he drew considerable attention. About this time I saw a scattering and getting out of the way and my attention was drawn to that spot when I saw John Stone draw a pistol and fire at Ingram. – Ingram run some distance and got behind a horse, Stone pursuing him, he then left the horse and started back towards the crowd when Stone fired again, the ball striking Ingram in the back, killing him almost instantly. – Stone followed his victim up to where he fell when Mr. Roberts caught him; the crowd of armed men then came up and I heard some person order Roberts to let that pistol go, which he did. Stone then run off, well guarded by his friends, some of them threatening to kill any man who attempted to arrest Stone. Such are the facts of the diabolical murder of John (sic) Ingram. Bystander

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Excerpt from Colonel Albert Bishop’s book regarding the letter in red ink sent by James M. Ingram. Bishop was a lawyer and mocked James’ phonetic spelling. James may not have known now to spell, but he knew what he wanted to say. The part in quotation marks contains the literal words of James.

(Written by Bishop):
Not long since we received a communication from one James Ingram, the Captain of the most notorious of these bands that infest Benton county. The letter reached Fayetteville in a manner unknown to ordinary mail carrying, and was placed in our hands on the morning of the third of March. Why we should be the recipient of this missive we do not yet know, nor did the writer see fit to inform us. The letter was written in a bold hand, with red ink, or possibly a liquid more sanguineous, and as its chirography is another argument in favor of the intelligence of a class of men who so dread Negro equality, we insert it verbatim, punctuatim, literatimque;

(Written by Ingram):
"hed quarter
"White River hill to the molisha of Benton Madison and Wash-
ington co ark and all it ma consurn I am aposed to Burning and
Robing famileys of ther stuff and provisions and a Buse to women tha
molisha is as well aquainted with the hill as I am and if tha can take
the advantage of me and my men from the brush and kil ar take us
prisnors we will But try to pa it Back and will not go and Burn nor
plunder nor giv abuse but if you carey out the plan of Burning and
Robing I shal Be compeled to paternise your plan But it is a plan that
I abhor and I would Be glad you will drop the plan we don't want it
sed that the suthern people Brot famileys to suffer and turn out of
Dores I Expect to fight you on all occasions and if men fal prisners in
my hands tha will Be treeted as prisnors of wor tha will Be giv a triol
and if tha ar not gilty of 4 crimes tha will not be hurt and that is
Burning Robing women and children of ther provisions house hole
and abuse to famileys and murdering men at home not in armes the
molishy knows that I hav not robed nor Burnt and hav treeted pris-
nors with respect

"to Curnel Bishop Dont you no that the war is clost at a end and
you should be carful for you hav giv orders to murder inosent unarm
men and Burn if you dont mind you will not Be forgot after peace I
think men women and children that had no hand in Bringing up the
war shud not be hurt.

"Curnel Bishop post at Fayetteville ark from Capt James Ingrum
of the 6th provose co Benton Co Ark

"Feb 27 1863
"Capt JAMES INGRUN"