Saline County and the American Revolution
By Cody Berry
Not too long ago I was walking around the Saline County Courthouse, and I took a few minutes to look at the many veterans’ memorials. One of them was placed in honor of Asher Bagley and Benjamin Bryant who had served in the American Revolution. I had heard of Benjamin Bryant before but not Asher Bagley. So, in honor of Independence Day, I decided to see what I could find out about these two men.
According to an article written by Patsy Kirkpatrick Kuhn of the Bryant Historical Society, Benjamin Bryant served as a private in the First New Jersey Regiment during the Revolutionary War. Bryant was born in 1760 and came to the Bryant area in 1834. He died just six years later. Kuhn said that some people think that Benjamin Bryant is the man for which Bryant is named but he died in 1840, and the town of Bryant wasn’t incorporated until 1892.1
The Arkansas State Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) had more details about Benjamin Bryant and Asher Bagley on their website. They said that Bryant and Bagley both served as privates in the same New Jesey Regiment under Captain Aaron Ogden in the spring of 1783. At the end of the war, they both received 100 acres of bounty land for their service.2 The term “bounty land” refers to a portion of public land that is given as a reward, especially for military service.3 Asher Bagley died in November 1840, and is buried at Old Union Cemetery in Bland, Arkansas.4 Bagley’s grave marker says that he was born in 1751.5
Benjamin Bryant died in either 1840, as his grave marker says, or on May 2, 1842, as his pension records say according to the DAR. Bryant married Elizabeth Cochran in 1834 and had a son named Samuel. Other than that, very little is known about him. Bryant was buried at Collegeville Cemetery in Alexander.6 In 1976, the Benton-Saline County Bicentennial Committee placed a memorial for Asher Bagley and Benjamin Bryant at the Saline County Courthouse. The memorial says that both men enlisted in the Spring of 1777 and served through the winter at Valley Forge and to the end of the war in 1783.7 Saline County as we know it didn’t exist at the time of the American Revolution, but at least two men who lived it, lived here.
Citations:
1 Patsy Kirkpatrick Kuhn, “Today is Patriot Day,” BryantDaily.com, http://www.bryantdaily.com/tuesday-is-patriot-day/, Date Accessed 6/26/2025.
2 Arkansas State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, “Flag Presentation Honoring Revolutionary War Patriot, 2020,” Arkansas-DAR.org, https://arkansas-dar.org/2021/06/13/4988/, Date Accessed 6/26/2025.
3 “Legal Definitions – Bounty Land,” LSD.law, https://lsd.law/define/bounty-land, Date Accessed 6/26/2025.
4 Anthony Rushing, “Bland (Saline County),” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/bland-saline-county-10841/, Date Accessed 6/26/2025. And Arkansas State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, “Flag Presentation Honoring Revolutionary War Patriot, 2020,” Arkansas-DAR.org, https://arkansas-dar.org/2021/06/13/4988/, Date Accessed 6/26/2025.
5 “Asher Bagley Grave,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/media/asher-bagley-grave-19895/, Date Accessed 6/26/2025.
6 Arkansas State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, “Flag Presentation Honoring Revolutionary War Patriot, 2020,” Arkansas-DAR.org, https://arkansas-dar.org/2021/06/13/4988/, Date Accessed 6/26/2025. And “Benjamin Bryant,” Find-a-Grave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36879584/benjamin-bryant, Date Accessed 6/26/2025.
7 “Saline County Revolutionary War Soldiers,” The Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=96595, Date Accessed 6/30/2025.