Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert

(Encyclopedia)Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert yo͞oˈəl [key], 1810–94, American educator, b. Georgetown, D.C., grad. West Point, 1832; brother of Gen. R. S. Ewell. He taught mathematics at West Point, Hampden-Sidney C...

Huff, Sam

(Encyclopedia) Huff, Sam, 1934-2021, American football Hall of Famer, b. Morgantown, W.V., as Robert Lee Huff, West Virginia Univ. (B.A., 1956). Huff played football...

Marden, Brice

(Encyclopedia)Marden, Brice, 1938–, American painter, b. Bronxville, N.Y.; grad Boston Univ. (B.F.A., 1961), Yale Univ. (M.A., 1963). Marden began exhibiting his work in the 1960s, becoming known for minimalist a...

Catt, Carrie Chapman

(Encyclopedia)Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859–1947, American suffragist and peace advocate, b. Carrie Lane, Ripon, Wis., grad. Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.), 1880. She was superintendent of schools (1883â€...

Washington, Martha

(Encyclopedia)Washington, Martha, 1731–1802, wife of George Washington, b. New Kent co., Va. The daughter of John Dandridge and Frances Jones Dandridge, she first married (1749) Daniel Parke Custis. She bore him ...

Ruffin, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Ruffin, Edmund rŭfˈĭn [key], 1794–1865, American agriculturist, one of the Southern fire-eaters, b. Prince George co., Va. His interest in improving impoverished land led him to become a pioneer ...

Peninsular campaign

(Encyclopedia)Peninsular campaign, in the American Civil War, the unsuccessful Union attempt (Apr.–July, 1862) to capture Richmond, Va., by way of the peninsula between the York and James rivers. Late in May...

Gleason, Henry Allan

(Encyclopedia)Gleason, Henry Allan glēˈsən [key], 1882–1975, American botanist, plant geographer, and plant ecologist. His floristic studies of North American vegetation led to his “individualistic concept o...

Murasaki Shikibu

(Encyclopedia)Murasaki Shikibu mo͞oˌräsäˈkē shēˌkēbo͞oˈ [key], c.978–1031?, Japanese novelist, court figure at the height of the Heian period (794–1185). Known also as Lady Murasaki, she is celebrate...

Mitchel, John

(Encyclopedia)Mitchel, John, 1815–75, Irish revolutionist and journalist. A practicing lawyer, Mitchel contributed articles to the Nation (Dublin) and the United Irishman, which he founded in 1848, calling for re...

Browse by Subject