Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Turner, Nat

(Encyclopedia)Turner, Nat, 1800–1831, American slave, leader of the Southampton Insurrection (1831), b. Southampton co., Va. Deeply religious from childhood, Turner...

Redford, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Redford, Robert, 1937–, American actor and director, b. Santa Monica, Calif., as Charles Robert Redford, Jr. One of Hollywood's superstars, he began his acting career in 1959, scoring his first big ...

Clay, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Clay, Henry, 1777–1852, American statesman, b. Hanover co., Va. In 1828, Clay again supported Adams for President, and Jackson's success bitterly disappointed him. Although he intended to retir...

Van Buren, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Van Buren, Martin, 1782–1862, 8th President of the United States (1837–41), b. Kinderhook, Columbia co., N.Y. He was again the presidential candidate of the Democratic party in 1840, but he was ...

Pensacola

(Encyclopedia)Pensacola pĕnsəkōˈlə [key], city (1990 pop. 58,165), seat of Escambia co., extreme NW Fla., on Pensacola Bay; inc. 1822. It is a port of entry with a natural harbor and shipping and fishing indus...

Biddle, Nicholas, American financier

(Encyclopedia)Biddle, Nicholas, 1786–1844, American financier, b. Philadelphia. After holding important posts in the American legations in France and England, he returned to the United States in 1807 and became o...

Gardner, Isabella Stewart

(Encyclopedia)Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 1840–1924, American art collector, b. New York City. She lived in Boston following her marriage to the financier Jack Gardner. After the Civil War her home became known fo...

Tyler, John

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, John, 1790–1862, 10th President of the United States, b. Charles City co., Va. Tyler, nominated by a small Democratic faction, had withdrawn from the 1844 election. In Feb., 1861, he pres...

Lee, Robert Edward

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Robert Edward, 1807–70, general in chief of the Confederate armies in the American Civil War, b. Jan. 19, 1807, at Stratford, Westmoreland co., Va.; son of Henry (“Light-Horse Harry”) Lee. ...

Bancroft, George

(Encyclopedia)Bancroft, George, 1800–1891, American historian and public official, b. Worcester, Mass. He taught briefly at Harvard and then at the Round Hill School in Northampton, Mass., of which he was a found...