I found that the first Lt Co of the U.S. who was black was Allen Allensworth in 1906 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Allensworth and so the Lt Col J H Darling of 7th Louisiana would not have been black, though an officer of a "colored" unit. I sent this paper to my parents in the mail yesterday. I also mentioned to them that the will for J H Darling is only the will not the full estate papers, and I will try to follow up with that, to see if the disbursement settlement has any further personal information, possibly giving light on the Jeremiah/James name confusion. Again I send my huge and most sincere thanks for all you have supplied and your interest in this Union soldier who is buried in the confederate/mason part of a cemetery in Virginia; and I continue to hope we learn enough that we can one day make proper burial marker for him. I will give a try on the further legal papers.

Sincerely thank you for everything so far and will communicate further if I can find something to convince everyone concerned we really do have the right J H Darling!

Catherine