John Sebastian Little

John Sebastian Little (March 15, 1851 – October 29, 1916) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and briefly as the 21st governor of Arkansas, before having a nervous breakdown and resigning.

Biography John Sebastian "Bass" Little was born in Jenny Lind in Sebastian County, Arkansas; his middle name is a reference to that county, which had been created earlier that year. He was the son of Jesse Eaton Little and Mary Elizabeth (Tatum) Little, and grandson of Eaton Tatum and Charlotte Bruer (Reynolds) Tatum. Little attended Cane Hill College in Washington County for one term.

Little taught school and studied law. He was admitted to the Arkansas bar in 1873, and in 1876 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the 12th Judicial District. He served in that position until 1882.

Little married Elizabeth Jane Irwin on January 4, 1877, in Paris, Arkansas.

Career Little served in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1884, and in 1886 was appointed judge in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit and served for four years.

In 1894 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Representative Clifton R. Breckinridge. He was thereafter reelected to the House six times, serving for 12 years. In 1906, Little was elected governor of Arkansas.

Little was inaugurated as governor on January 18, 1907, and shortly thereafter suffered a nervous breakdown which left him unable to execute his political duties. He resigned the governorship after serving for less than a month. He was succeeded as acting governor by the President of the Arkansas Senate, John Isaac Moore.

Death

Little left Arkansas and went to the Texas gulf coast in an effort to rehabilitate. Little never recovered and died in Little Rock, in the Arkansas State Hospital for Nervous Disorders. He is buried at the City Cemetery in Greenwood.