Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/776

738 LITTLE, George, naval officer, b. in Marsh- field, Mass., 10 April, 1754 ; d. in Weymouth, Mass., 22 July, 1809. Soon after the beginning of the Revolutionary war he had command of the " Boston," an armed vessel belonging to Massachu- setts, and in 1779 he was 1st lieutenant of the " Pro- tector." He was captured by a British frigate, but scaled the walls of his prison at Plymouth, Eng- land, and returning to the United States obtained command of the sloop-of-war " Winthrop," in which he cruised with success during the remainder of the war. In 1798 he was appointed to the com- mand of the U S. frigate " Boston," and he was made a captain in the navy, 4 March, 1799, captur- ing several armed French ships, among them " Le Berceau " after a severe conflict. He was dis- charged from the service under the peace estab- lishment, 22 Oct., 1801, and retired to his farm at Weymouth. He is the author of " The American Cruiser " (Boston), and " Life on the Ocean, or Twenty Years at Sea " (1844-'5).

LITTLE, Harvey D., journalist, b. in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1803 ; d. in Columbus, Ohio, 22 Aug., 1833. He was the son of poor parents, who re- moved to the west about 1815, settling in Franklin county, Ohio, which was then mostly a wilderness. His early educational advantages were, of course, limited, but, by being apprenticed to a printer in Co- lumbus and using all his opportunities, he became, by the time he was of age, an excellent English scholar. He early developed a talent for poetry, and was in the habit of printing his verses in the various papers with which he successively became connected. He afterward studied law, and was admitted to the bar, but family considerations in- duced him to return to newspaper work, and at the time of his death, which occurred suddenly from Asiatic cholera, he was editing the " Eclectic and Medical Botanist." His poems first attracted at- tention about 1830, and were written over the sig- nature of " Velasquez."

LITTLE, James Laurence, surgeon, b. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 19 Feb., 1836 ; d. in New York city, 4 April, 1885. He was graduated at the Col- lege of physicians and surgeons, New York city, in 1860, and appointed junior assistant at the New York hospital, where he subsequently became senior assistant and house surgeon. Two years later he was made surgeon-in-charge of the Park barracks. In 1863 he was appointed clinical as- sistant to Dr. Willard Parker in the College of physicians and surgeons, and ihe following spring he began the delivering of a series of lectures, the first being on "Fractures and their Treatment." This series was continued until 1868, when he was appointed lecturer on operative surgery and surgi- cal dressings, which office he held for ten years. In 1875 he accepted the chair of surgery in the University of Vermont, although continuing to re- side in New York. He was also appointed con- sulting surgeon in the Northwestern dispensary, and attending surgeon to both St. Luke's and St. Vincent's hospitals. In 1880 he was chosen pro- fessor of clinical surgery in the medical depart- ment of the University of the city of New York, but resigned in 1882, and was appointed professor of surgery in the New York post-graduate medical school, which office he held until his death. He was a member and fellow of numerous medical so- cieties, and is the author of several professional papers of importance. Dr. Little introduced into this country the treatment of fractures by the plaster-of- Paris splint. He had a large experience in cases of stone in the bladder, and was the first, in 1872, to puncture that organ with the aspirator. The median operation was performed by him more frequently than by any other American surgeon. In the spring of 1864 he joined in the movement, in New York for sanitary reform, and was instru- mental in the formation of its board of health.

LITTLE, Moses, soldier, b. in Newbury, Mass., 8 May, 1724; d. there, 27 May, 1798. In April, 1775, he marched with a company to Lexington, and took part in the engagement near that place. He was promoted colonel, and fought in the battle of Bunker Hill. After the evacuation of Boston he was ordered to New York, and commanded his regiment at Trenton and Princeton, N. J., but was compelled to return home in 1777 on account of impaired health. In 1779 he was appointed by the state of Massachusetts to command the naval ex- pedition to the Penobscot, but declined. In 1781 a stroke of paralysis deprived him of speech.

LITTLE, Peter, legislator, b. in Petersburg, Huntingdon co.. Pa., about 1775 ; d. in Baltimore county, Md., 5 Feb. 1830. He received a com- mon-school education, and was apprenticed to a trade. Removing to Maryland, he settled at Free- dom, Carroll co., and was one of the few mechan- ics who have been sent from the workshop to con- gress: He was chosen as a Federalist from Mary- land, and served from 4 Nov., 1811, till 3 March, 1813, and, being re-elected, from 2 Dec, 1816, till 3 March, 1829, or over eighteen years in all. He was appointed by President Madison colonel of the 38th infantry on 19 May, 1813, and served till 15 June, 1815. — His son, Lewis Henry, b. in Baltimore in 1818 ; d. in Iuka, Miss., 19 Sept., 1862, was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1839, and assigned to the 5th infantry. He was made 1st lieutenant, 18 April, 1845, and having taken part in the Mexican war, he was brevetted captain, 23 Sept., 1846, for " gallant and meritorious con- duct at Monterey. He was given the full rank of captain, 20 Aug., 1847, but resigned, 7 May, 1861, to enter the Confederate army. He was appointed adjutant-general of the forces in Missouri on the staff of Gen. Sterling Price, and for his bravery at the battle of Elk Horn was promoted brigadier-general. When Van Dorn was assigned to the command of the district of Northern Mississippi, Little succeeded to the command of Price's divis- ion. He was killed at the battle of Iuka.

LITTLE, Sophia Louise, poet, b. in Newport, R. I., 22 Aug., 1799. She was the second daughter of Asher Robbins, U. S. senator from Rhode Island. She was educated in her native town, and in 1824 married William Little, Jr., of Boston, who greatly assisted her by judicious criticism in the development of her poetic talent. Her first poem of any length, a description of a New England Thanksgiving, was printed in 1828 in &ldquo;The Token.&rdquo; Mrs. Little took an active interest in the anti-slavery movement, and was a life-long friend of William Lloyd Garrison, being present at the Boston meeting, at which he was mobbed. She was also president of the Prisoner's aid association of Rhode Island from its formation. With the aid of friends she opened a free reading-room for working people in Newport, which proved to be the germ of a free public library. She also established a Holly-tree coffee-house, and is still (1887) active in many charitable enterprises. Mrs. Little, besides contributing frequently to various periodicals, has published the following poems: &ldquo;The Last Days of Jesus&rdquo; (Boston, 1839); &ldquo;The Annunciation and Birth of Jesus, and the Resurrection&rdquo; (1842); and &ldquo;Pentecost&rdquo; (1873). In 1877 a complete edition of her religious poems was published at Newport, bearing the title, &ldquo;Last Days of Jesus, and Other