In August, still ailing, he was remanded to the hospital at Benton Barracks, Saint Louis, and was discharged from the service for disability on February 1, 1864. This somewhat respectful description of resourceful self-liberation by slaves carried little weight in Little's opinions of African Americans, nor did his keen interest in the strategies that southern women used to cope with the chaos of war time translate into respect for women. His letters include several worthwhile discussions of the conditions under which the citizens of Louisiana and Tennessee, and particularly women. The Little letters contain interesting accounts of a small number of engagements, all during the Vicksburg Campaign. His account of the capture of Vicksburg and the state of the city upon occupation is engrossing, though probably based upon second-hand sources, since he was hospitalized at Milliken's Bend at the time.
Typescripts are available for all letters in the collection.
From the pagination of these, it is apparent that not all of Little's letters have survived in this collection, but the location of the others is unknown. Gift of James S. Schoff, 1974.