Little, Benjamin Franklin, 1830-1879

Benjamin Franklin Little was a planter of Carlisle plantation, Richmond County, N.C.; Confederate Army officer with the 52nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment; state legislator, 1864-1865; dry goods merchant; and delegate to the 1876 National Democratic Convention in Saint Louis, Mo. In 1856, he married first Mary Jane Reid of Iredell County, N.C., daughter of Rufus Reid.

Benjamin Franklin Little (1830-1879), planter, of Carlisle Plantation in Richmond County, N.C., was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Little. In 1858, he married Mary Jane Reid (knowns as Flax ), the daughter of Rufus Reid of Mount Mourne, Iredell County, N.C., and his first wife Nancy Latta, who was the daughter of James and Jane Latta of Mecklenburg County, N.C. Children of Benjamin and Mary Jane included sons Rufus (b. 1860), Lacy, and Tom, and daughters Nancy and Sallie. Two others, Homer and Jennie, died of diphtheria about 1864.

Benjamin Franklin Little served in North Carolina and Virginia as a captain in the 52nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 1862-1863; was wounded and captured at Gettysburg (arm amputated in July 1863), where he received a field promotion to colonel; and was imprisoned at Fort McHenry, Md., until March 1864. After the Civil War, he continued farming and became a partner with James A. Liles of Anson County, N.C., in a dry goods business. He was also a trustee of Deshler Female Institute, Tuscumbia, Ala., and a director of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad. He represented Richmond County in the North Carolina legislature, 1864-1865, and was a delegate to the 1876 Democratic National Convention in Saint Louis, Mo. He died at Carlisle, Little's Mill, Richmond County, N.C., in 1879.