Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Elliott, Jesse Duncan

(Encyclopedia)Elliott, Jesse Duncan, 1782–1845, American naval officer, b. Hagerstown, Md. In the War of 1812, he helped capture two British vessels on Lake Erie and was made commander of the lake. He began build...

Reno, Jesse Lee

(Encyclopedia)Reno, Jesse Lee rēˈnō [key], 1823–62, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Wheeling, Va. (now W.Va.). He was twice brevetted for his service in the Mexican War. In the Civil War, Reno was ...

Macon, Bayou

(Encyclopedia)Macon, Bayou māˈkən, māˈkŏn [key], c.145 mi (230 km) long, rising in SE Ark. and flowing S into NE La. to the Tensas River. It was used as a rendezvous by the bandits Frank and Jesse James. ...

Starr, Belle

(Encyclopedia)Starr, Belle, 1848?–89, American outlaw, b. near Carthage, Mo. Her original name was Myra Belle (or Maybelle) Shirley. Her family members were Confederate sympathizers, and her father was a farmer w...

Younger, Cole

(Encyclopedia)Younger, Cole (Thomas Coleman Younger), 1844–1916, American outlaw, b. Jackson co., Mo. After the Civil War he joined the outlaw band of Jesse James, with whom he had served as a Confederate guerril...

Northfield

(Encyclopedia)Northfield, city (1990 pop. 14,684), Rice co., SE Minn., near Minneapolis–St. Paul, on the Cannon River; inc. 1875. It is the trade center for a dairy and farming region. Manufactures include printe...

Crittenden, Thomas Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Crittenden, Thomas Theodore, 1832–1909, governor of Missouri (1881–85), b. Shelby co., Ky.; nephew of John J. Crittenden. In the Civil War he served (1862–65) as lieutenant colonel of a Missouri...

ballad

(Encyclopedia)ballad, in literature and music, short, narrative poem or song usually relating a single, dramatic event. Two forms of the ballad are often distinguished—the folk ballad, dating from about the 12th ...

Lind, James

(Encyclopedia)Lind, James, 1716–94, English naval surgeon. Considered the founder of naval hygiene in England, Lind observed on a ten-week cruise (1746) that 80 seamen of 350 came down with scurvy. In his Treatis...

Lenox, James

(Encyclopedia)Lenox, James lĕnˈəks [key], 1800–1880, American bibliophile and philanthropist, b. New York City. Lenox was a founder of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York City. He amassed a fine collection of ...