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W.J. Darden, Jr
(1825 - 1881)
Home State: Texas
Education: Columbian College (now George Washington University)
- A.B. 1844, A.M. 1847
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 5th Texas Infantry
Before Sharpsburg
He served two terms in the Texas State House (1855-57). In 1860 he was a prosperous 35 year old attorney and owned 22 slaves at Columbus in Colorado County, TX, and lived in the home of wealthy planter and art patron Robert Robson.
He enrolled in Columbus on 10 July 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company B, 5th Texas Infantry. He was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant of the regiment on 1 November, but was returned to Company B as a Private on 8 February 1862. He was captured at West Point (Eltham's Landing), VA on 7 May 1862 and was a prisoner at Fort Delaware until released and sent to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange on 5 August. He rejoined his company on 24 August.
On the Campaign
He was wounded by a gunshot to his right leg in action on 17 September 1862, "left on the field," and captured there.
The rest of the War
By December 1862 he was reported to be at "his father's" in Washington, DC, but was in the Old Capitol Prison there by 3 January 1863. He was sent to City Point, VA for exchange on 29 March, was admitted to the CS General Hospital in Petersburg, VA hospital on 30 March, was in a Richmond, VA hospital by 8 April, and was furloughed home for 60 days on 28 April 1863. He was listed as absent without leave after 28 June 1863 and later as a deserter.
He was elected to the state legislature in August 1863, serving to August 1866, and was finally administratively discharged from the 5th Texas on 16 January 1865.
After the War
By 1870 and to at least 1880 he was again a lawyer in Columbus, TX.
References & notes
His service basics from Polley1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860-1880, the General Alumni Catalogue of George Washington University (1917), and the Texas Legislative Reference Library. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph in the Confederate Photograph Collection;3 thanks to Greyson Beardsley for finding that.
He married Fannie Amelia Dickson Baker (1829-1890), an accomplished artist and writer [more about her], in January 1847 and they had 2 sons who died at ages 4 (1852) and 23 (1873).
His father was a 61 year old clerk at the US Post Office Department in Washington, DC in 1860, and he died there in February 1864.
Birth
06/12/1825; Norfolk, VA
Death
05/29/1881; Colorado County, TX; burial in Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, Columbus, TX
1 Polley, Joseph Benjamin, Hood's Texas Brigade, New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1910, pp. 332-334 [AotW citation 2497]
2 US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Record Group No. 109 (War Department Collection of Confederate Records), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927 [AotW citation 31866]
3 US Army, Heritage and Education Center, Confederate Photograph Collection, Published c. 2025, first accessed 18 January 2025, <https://arena.usahec.org/results?p_r_p_arena_urn%3Aarena_search_item_id=71928>, Source page: https://emuweb.usahec.org/alma/multimedia/1455751/20182069PHBT989108361F0000000369485I018.pdf [AotW citation 31867]