Muscogee County GaArchives Biographies.....William Little November 6 1839 - Unknown
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Author: Memoirs of Ga., Vol. II, 1895

Memoirs of Georgia, Vol. II, Atlanta, Ga.
Published by the Atlanta Historical Society in 1895
Pages 620-621

Hon. William A. Little, who is probably the leader at the exceptionally fine 
bar at Columbus, Ga., was born in Talbot County, Ga., Nov. 6, 1839, and is a 
son of William G. and M.A. (Holt) Little.  William G. Holt was born in 
Edgefield District, S.C. (1808), moved to Georgia in 1829 and settled at 
Milledgeville, Baldwin Co.  He was a physician by profession, having graduated 
from the old Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa.  He subsequently 
moved to Wilkinson County, Ga., and represented that county and his district 
in the House of Representatives and in the State Senate.  In 1837 he removed 
to Talbot County, Ga., where he died in March 1877.  He was a son of Thomas 
Little, of Scotch extraction, a native of South Carolina.  Mrs. M.A. (Holt) 
Little was born in Putnam County, Ga., in 1819, a daughter of William Holt, a 
native of Virginia, and of English extraction.  William A. Little had no 
brothers and but one sister, now Mrs. Mary L. Bruce.  He was taken to Macon, 
Ga., when ten years of age, but was principally reared and received his 
earlier education in Talbot County.  He attended Franklin College, Athens, 
Ga., and Oglethorpe University, at Midway, near Milledgeville, Ga., graduating 
from the latter institution with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1859.  He 
read law from Smith & Pou and was admitted to the bar, and began practice at 
Talbotton, Ga.; but not being satisfied with his legal education he entered 
the Law Department of Yale University.  He volunteered as a private in July 
1861, in the Bibb County Cavalry, Georgia State Troops, and when his term of 
service had expired, joined Company C of the Third Georgia Cavalry, but was 
subsequently transferred to Company E. of the Twenty-Ninth Georgia Battalion.  
In the cavalry of the western army, under Gen. Joseph Henry Wheeler, he 
participated in all the battles of Bragg’s campaign through Kentucky and 
Tennessee.  He was made a prisoner at New Haven, Ky., and was carried to 
Louisville, where he was detained for thirty days and then regularly 
exchanged.  During the latter part of the war he was transferred to duty on 
the Georgia and Florida coasts, and promoted to be a lieutenant of cavalry.  
He was made a captain a little later, in which position he served until the 
surrender.  When peace was declared he returned to his home in Talbotton and 
resumed the practice of his profession.  In 1866 he was elected county 
solicitor for Talbot County, and served until 1868, and shortly afterward he 
was elected assistant secretary of the state senate.  He was appointed by Gov. 
Smith solicitor-general of the Chattahoochee Circuit in 1872, and removed to 
Columbus.  In 1877, when the constitutional convention was called, he was 
elected as one of the members of that body from the Twenty-fourth district and 
served with distinction, having been the originator and champion of many of 
the reforms brought about by that instrument.  In 1882 he was elected to the 
House of Representatives from Muscogee County, and served as chairman of the 
finance committee, the most important in the body.  He was re-elected in 1884, 
and upon the assembling of that body was chosen speaker.  In 1886 he was again 
elected to the legislature and was again chosen speaker.  In September 1891, 
he was appointed attorney-general of Georgia, and served in that position 
until October 1892, refusing to become a candidate for the office at the end 
of his term.  Col. Little combines in a rare degree the qualities of a genial 
gentleman and those of a man of fine business capacity, possessing varied and 
extensive information, coupled with high integrity.  Few men, indeed, have 
lived so long in political favor and made no enemies.  The secret of his life, 
perhaps, rests in his stanch adherence to principle, and a thorough 
performance of every official and social duty.  He is modest, unselfish and 
thoroughly amiable in disposition.  As a lawyer, he is profound extremely 
quick of perception, firm, discreet, courteous to the opposition, and a 
thorough master of the science of the law and precedent.  Politically he is a 
thorough democrat, is a master Mason and a member of the I.O.O.F.  In November 
1866, Col. Little was happily married to Miss Jennie Dozier, a daughter of 
Emily (Huff) and John B. Dozier, a prominent planter of Muscogee County.  This 
union has been blessed by the birth of two sons, viz.: William G., who was 
educated in the public schools of Columbus and at the celebrated Bingham 
School, North Carolina, and now in business in Columbus; and John D., a 
prominent young attorney in partnership with his father, in Columbus.  He is a 
graduate from both the literary and the law departments of the University of 
Georgia, at Athens.




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