Darden left his studies at R-MC due to vision problems and became a farmer in Greene County, NC. He briefly joined the Greene County Rifles, Co. A of the 3rd NC Infantry but left when he was elected to North Carolina's Secession Convention. Darden then was commissioned as second lieutenant in Co. F of the 61st NC Infantry on April 4, 1862. He was promoted to captain on April 26, 1864. He was hospitalized in August 1864 with an undisclosed illness. Darden was taken prisoner at Fort Harrison, VA on September 30, 1864 and taken to Bermuda Hundred on October1. He was sent to Old Capitol Prison on October 6, 1864 and to the prison camp at Fort Delaware, DE on October 21, arriving on October 23, 1864. A letter to a friend dated January 11, 1865 indicates that his health was poor and his rheumatism bothered him, and he complained of the cold. Darden remained imprisoned at Fort Delaware until he took the Oath of Allegiance on June 10, 1865.
After the war, Darden returned to farming in Greene County, NC. He served a term in the NC legislature and became active in Farmers' Alliance. He died on June 2, 1890 and is buried in Greene County, NC in an unnamed family cemetery near Tabernacle Methodist Church at Speights Bridge.
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