Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

146 results found

Letcher, John

(Encyclopedia)Letcher, John, 1813–84, American politician, b. Lexington, Va. He studied law and practiced at Lexington, where he also edited the Jacksonian Democrat Valley Star. In Congress (1851–59), he was kn...

Armistead, Lewis Addison

(Encyclopedia)Armistead, Lewis Addison, 1817–63, Confederate general, b. New Bern, N.C. He was commissioned (1839) in the U.S. army from Virginia but resigned when that state seceded. In the Gettysburg campaign, ...

Kumasi

(Encyclopedia)Kumasi ko͞omăˈsē, –mäˈ– [key], city (1984 pop. 376,246), capital of the Ashanti Region, central Ghana. The second largest city in Ghana, it is a commercial and transportation center in a coc...

Pratt, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Pratt, Daniel, 1799–1873, American industrialist, b. Temple, N.H. He moved to Georgia at the age of 20, and after he had become a partner in a cotton gin he went (1833) to Alabama, where he founded ...

Preston, John Smith

(Encyclopedia)Preston, John Smith, 1809–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. near Abingdon, Va. He practiced law at Abingdon and Columbia, S.C., but made his fortune operating a Louisiana sugar p...

Decapolis

(Encyclopedia)Decapolis dēkăpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=ten cities], confederacy of 10 ancient cities, all E of the Jordan, except Scythopolis. The others were (according to Pliny) Dion, Pella, Gadara, Hippos, Gerasa, ...

Lee, George Washington Custis

(Encyclopedia)Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832–1913, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Fort Monroe, Va.; eldest son of Robert E. Lee. He served in the Corps of Engineers until May, 1861, when h...

Powhatan

(Encyclopedia)Powhatan pouˌətănˈ [key], d. 1618, Native North American chief of the Powhatan tribe in Virginia, whose personal name was Wahunsenaca, Wahunsenacawh, or Wahunsonacock. He greatly extended the domi...

Adams, Charles Francis, 1807–86, American public official

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Charles Francis, 1807–86, American public official, minister to Great Britain (1861–68), b. Boston; son of John Quincy Adams. After a boyhood spent in various European capitals, he was grad...

Hollins, George Nichols

(Encyclopedia)Hollins, George Nichols, 1799–1878, American naval officer, b. Baltimore. His active career spanned the years from the War of 1812, in which he served under Decatur, to the end of the Civil War, in ...