Stephen Heard Darden


Stephen Heard Darden was a prominent Texas politician who served in the Texas Senate and then as an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Life

Mr. Darden is of English-Irish descent, and a native of Mississippi. His entrance into Texas was as a volunteer soldier from the State of Mississippi, under Captain David M. Fulton, in the year 1836. In 1841, he became permanently established as a citizen of Texas.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Darden received a commission as a first lieutenant in Company A of the 4th Texas Infantry in what became widely known as the Texas Brigade. He was promoted to the rank of captain before resigning to the join the Second Confederate Congress.
He was elected to represent the First Congressional District of Texas in the Second Confederate Congress from 1864 to 1865.
Darden was elected as a Democrat to be Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts from 1874 to 1879.