Louis Littlepage or Lewis Littlepage (1762–1802) was an American diplomat, who most notably served in the royal court of the last Polish King, Stanisław August Poniatowski. Biography The life and career of Lewis Littlepage are remarkable for their reach into so many of the centers of power during the late eighteenth century. Biographies by Curtis Carroll Davis and Nell Holladay Boand follow the trail with many references and excerpts from the original correspondence. Youth Littlepage was born on December 19, 1762, in Hanover County, Virginia or New Kent County, Virginia (accounts vary), the son of a prominent citizen, Colonel James Littlepage. Lewis Littlepage's father, James Littlepage, was the first Clerk of Louisa County, and was elected to the House of Burgesses of Hanover in 1764. Lewis was the elder of two children from his father's second marriage, in 1761, to Elizabeth (Betty) Lewis. After the Colonel's death in 1764, Betty married Lewis Holladay, (who rose to the rank of major during the American Revolution) of Spotsylvania County. This resulted in Littlepage having a half-brother, Waller Holladay (1776–1860), the father of U. S. Representative Alexander Holladay (1811–1877). Early years After distinction in studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Littlepage first went to Europe in 1780 under the head of the American delegation to Spain, John Jay. He fought and was wounded in the invasion of Minorca in 1781, while acting as a volunteer aide de camp to the Duc de Crillon. During the sea battle of the Great Siege of Gibraltar, Littlepage was an observer aboard the Spanish fleet; he made extensive notes and sketches that were well received at the Spanish court. The assault that took place however was a huge defeat for the Bourbon allies; Littlepage was on board a floating battery that was sunk, but he was saved. Subsequently in Cadiz, he met the Marquis de Lafayette with whom he journeyed to Paris in 1783. After a bitter dispute with John Jay over a perceived insult, Littlepage left Paris, on an expedition with the Prince of Nassau. He traveled to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he observed the Sejm session that took place in Grodno in 1784. Service to the Polish king At that meeting he was offered and accepted a post in the royal court of the Polish King, Stanisław August Poniatowski. Littlepage then travelled back to Virginia in 1785, to work out