James Hicks May was born in Pendleton District, South Carolina, in 1818, and was living in Montgomery County, Arkansas, when the war began. He enlisted in the "Montgomery Hunters," Co. F, 4th Arkansas Infantry, at Mount Ida on July 10, 1861. When the regiment was organized and mustered into service at Camp Etter, near Mount Vernon, Missouri, on August 17, 1861, he was elected major. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on November 22, 1862. Due to infirmity related to his age, he resigned on a surgeon’s certificate of disability on August 8, 1863. He apparently saw no further service. He moved to California after the war, where he died in 1888. He is interred in Porterville Cemetery, Porterville, California. His wife's maiden name was Clementine Maddox.