Saline County in the Civil War

In 1860 Saline County had 749 enslaved people, about 11 percent of its population. About 1,300 white men served the Confederacy, and two of the county's seventeen companies served the Union. The war brought no large battle, but Steele's army reached Benton and built Fort Bussey in the north of town on September 10, 1863. Four Union regiments held Benton until Christmas, using the James Shoppach and William Crawford houses as headquarters. Skirmishes followed in 1863 and 1864, among them the July 1864 killing of militia general George Holt.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pinnacle Mountain State Park — 20 mi
  A day-use state park west of Little Rock around a 1,011-foot Ouachita peak, with a strenuous summit trail, the Arkansas Arboretum and a visitor center above the Arkansas River.
• Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site — 20 mi
  The 1927 high school where nine Black students entered under federal troops on September 25, 1957, with a National Park Service visitor center across the intersection.
• Big Dam Bridge — 20 mi
  A 14-foot-wide walking and cycling bridge built onto Murray Lock and Dam, 90 feet over the Arkansas River between Little Rock and North Little Rock.
• Arkansas State Capitol — 21 mi
  The neo-classical Capitol built from 1899 to 1915 on the old penitentiary site with state convict labor, free to enter, with the Little Rock Nine monument on the grounds.

More markers nearby

• Saline County Records — steps away
• The Benton Courier — steps away
• Old Southwest Trail — steps away
• The Gann Building — 0.3 mi