James C. Darden

Age 20, from Chesterfield County, he enlisted and mustered as Private in Parker's Richmond Battery, Light Artillery on 14 March 1862 in Richmond.

At Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862:

The fight commenced at break of day, and by sunrise the smoke of battle hung like a pall over the scene of conflict. Men and horses fall in rapid succession ...

"Darden," says Captain Parker to 'the coolest man on the field,' "Darden, if I am killed, tell my wife I was never happier in my life."

He was captured in action at Marye's Heights near Fredericksburg, VA on 3 May 1863 and held at Fort Delaware. He was paroled and in a hospital in Petersburg, VA by 23 May and back on duty on 27 June 1863. He was captured with his battery at Harper's Farm, VA on 6 April 1865 and a prisoner at Point Lookout, MD until released on 11 June 1865 after taking an oath of allegiance.

He died young, about age 29, of intestinal tuberculosis in Richmond.

Service information from Musselman1 via the Historical Data Systems database. The quote above from Royall W. Figg in "Where men only dare to go!" or, The story of a Boy Company (C.S.A.) (1885); thanks to Andy Cardinal for the pointer to that volume. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

c. 1842; Prince George County, VA

07/17/1871; Richmond, VA; burial in Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, VA