Joseph Agricol Viala (22 February 1778 – 6 July 1793) was a child involved in the French Revolutionary Army.

Faced with this uprising, the Revolutionary soldiers were forced to abandon Nîmes, Aix and Arles to the insurgents and fall back on Avignon.

The inhabitants of Lambesc and Tarascon joined up with the rebels from Marseilles and together they headed for the Durance in order to march on Lyon, which had also revolted against the central government in Paris.

Joseph Agricol thus became commander of the "Espérance de la Patrie", a National Guard formed wholly of young men from Avignon.

One account stated: In vain they tried to hold him back ; he braved the danger and no one could stop him from carrying out his audacious plan.

In that speech, Robespierre stated "By what fate or by what ingratitude has one yet hero younger and worthier of posterity been left forgotten?".

1794 also saw the composition of the marching song the Chant du départ, whose fourth stanza is placed in a child's mouth and mentions both Bara and Viala.

In 1822, the sculptor Antoine Allier created a life-size bronze monument to Viala, showing him nude and from behind, with his right hand placed on a hatchet and his left arm gripping a pole with a ring and a length of rope.

Under the French Third Republic, histography and scholarly literature contributed to renewed interest in the figures of Viala and Bara.