David Absalom Knox, born September 20, 1840 near Statesville, Tennessee, enlisted in the Confederate Army on June 10, 1861, at Gainesville, Arkansas, as a Private in Company E, Fifth Arkansas Regiment, Govan's Brigade, Cleburne's Division, Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee. "My first Captain was F.S. White and first Colonel David C. Cross. Was wounded at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Jonesboro, Georgia. Was in all the principal battles from Perryville, Kentucky to Jonesboro, Georgia." (It is interesting to note that he as a member of Company E, Fifth Arkansas does not claim to have been a participant in the battle of Shiloh). David A. Knox was the only survivor of three brothers who enlisted on June 10, 1861 at Gainesville, Greene County, Arkansas. They were members of Company E, principally from present day Clay County. John Houston Knox was killed at Ringgold, Georgia. A military marker for James Finley Knox (pictured above) was placed at the side of his eldest of three sons, Joseph M. Knox, in Oakwood Cemetery, Milan, Tennessee. The other two sons, David White and James Finley II, James Finley Knox never saw. The widow of Sgt. Knox named one of these twins after her deceased husband's captains, F.S. White and Colonel David C. Cross. These three men were kinsmen of President James Knox Polk, Lieutant General Leonidas Polk and Brigadier General Lucius Eugene Polk of Helena, Arkansas, who was commander of Pat Cleburne's Brigade, after Cleburne was promoted to Major General on December 13, 1862.
From "The Fighting Fifth" by Floyd R. Barnhill, Sr.