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Memorial Day

(Encyclopedia)Memorial Day, holiday in the United States observed in late May. Previously designated Decoration Day, it was inaugurated in 1868 by Gen. John A. Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of Civi...

Ridpath, John Clark

(Encyclopedia)Ridpath, John Clark, 1840–1900, American educator and author, b. Putnam co., Ind., grad. Indiana Asbury College (now DePauw Univ.), 1863. After teaching in Indiana schools, he was successively (1869...

Adams, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Samuel, 1722–1803, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass.; second cousin of John Adams. An unsuccessful businessman, he becam...

Douaumont

(Encyclopedia)Douaumont do͞o-ōmôNˈ [key], village, Meuse dept., NE France. It was part of the Verdun battlefield in World War I, and its cemetery, now a national memorial, contains the graves of 300,000 unident...

Carmel, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Carmel, Mount kärˈməl [key] [Heb.,=garden land], mountain ridge, NW Israel, extending 13 mi (21 km) NW from the plain of Esdraelon to the Mediterranean Sea, where it ends in a promontory marking th...

Mayfield

(Encyclopedia)Mayfield, city (2020 pop. 10,017), seat of Graves co., SW Ky., in an area of farms and clay deposits; founded 1823. It is an agricultural trade center w...

Andersonville

(Encyclopedia)Andersonville, village (2020 pop. 215), SW Ga., near Americus; inc. 1881. In Andersonville Prison, officially known as Camp Sumter, tens of thousands of Union soldiers were confined during...

Oronsay

(Encyclopedia)Oronsay ôˈrənsā, ŏˈrənzā [key], island, 3 sq mi (7.8 sq km), Argyll and Bute, NW Scotland, one of the Inner Hebrides. The island contains ruins of a 14th-century priory, a sculptured cross fro...

Modjeska, Helena

(Encyclopedia)Modjeska, Helena məjĕˈskə [key], 1844–1909, Polish actress who achieved fame in the United States primarily for her Shakespearean interpretations. After initial acclaim in Warsaw, she emigrated ...

Kurapaty

(Encyclopedia)Kurapaty, wooded area, northern outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, site of the execution of thousands of Belarussians and others by Soviet secret police between 1937 and 1941. The official count of those ex...