He was born in Cloutierville, Louisiana, of French ancestry to Ciriaque and Anais Rachal. He was an early settler in San Patricio County, who became a rancher, businessman, and community leader. When he was a child in the mid-1840's, his parents moved the family from Louisiana to Liberty, Texas. In 1857, Darius took a job helping Edward and Frank White drive stock from East Texas to San Patricio County. After serving in the Civil War with the 5th Texas Infantry - a part of Hood's Texas Brigade - he married Julia Bryan of Liberty. In 1866, he bought a tract of land at White Point on Nueces Bay. Shortly after they established their home, a yellow fever epidemic hit the area, killing fourteen, including four from the White Point families, who were buried in a cemetery on the bay that exists to this day. Rachal prospered and expanded his cattle operation, building a ranch home that became the social center of the surrounding area. Dances there might last several days and nights. The drought of the late 1870s dealt a blow to his cattle business, but he survived with his land still intact. Prosperity returned, and Rachal and Henry Scott of Refugio bought the 31,000-acre Rabb Ranch in Nueces County. Another drought in 1885 forced the sale of the Rabb Ranch to Robert Driscoll for $93,000. This land later became the property of Clara Driscoll. In 1871, Darius took a herd of 1,200 Coleman Ranch cattle up the trail with two brothers, E. R. "Nute" and Albert Rachal, as his bosses. The Rachals took a number of herds up the trail. Rachal was elected county commissioner in 1880, a position that he held through 1896, exerting an influence on the growth of the county. He turned to business endeavors and, with Sidney G. Borden, opened a store in Sharpsburg. They purchased the Nueces Valley, a flat-bottomed copper schooner, that called regularly at Sharpsburg near the mouth of the Nueces River. In the early 1880s, they built the first cotton gin in the area near Hart's Lake. Rachal also was involved in real estate developments in the area. In 1914, natural gas was discovered in the White Point area; one well ran wild for several weeks before collapsing on itself. The White Point area is still a big producer of gas and oil. Rachal established the community of Rosita on his ranch and when a post office was granted in 1892, served as Rosita's first and only postmaster until it was discontinued in 1914. The old ranch property is partly owned by a Rachal family descendent; however, few vestiges of the old homestead remain. The current property owners claim part of the dance hall structure still exists, but it is hidden in the thick brush. Darius is buried in the Rachal ranch cemetery, which is now known as Rosita Cemetery, beside his wife, Julia.