Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

285 results found

bibliography

(Encyclopedia)bibliography. The listing of books is of ancient origin. Lists of clay tablets have been found at Nineveh and elsewhere; the library at Alexandria had subject lists of its books. Modern bibliography b...

fortification

(Encyclopedia)fortification, system of defense structures for protection from enemy attacks. Fortification developed along two general lines: permanent sites built in peacetime, and emplacements and obstacles hasti...

Millo

(Encyclopedia)Millo mĭlˈō [key], in the Bible, fortification, N Jerusalem, built in the time of David. At Shechem there was a similar fortification called Beth-millo. ...

blockhouse

(Encyclopedia)blockhouse, small fortification, usually temporary, serving as a post for a small garrison. Blockhouses seem to have come into use in the 15th cent. to prevent access to a strategically important obje...

Fort Henry, in United States history

(Encyclopedia)Fort Henry, Confederate fortification on the Tennessee River, S of the Ky.-Tenn. line; site of the first major Union victory of the Civil War (Feb. 6, 1862). The fort was attacked and reduced by Union...

Flamborough Head

(Encyclopedia)Flamborough Head flămˈbərə [key], chalk promontory, East Riding of Yorkshire, E England, N of Bridlington Bay. There is a lighthouse at the tip. Danes' Dyke (an ancient earthwork fortification) cr...

Fort Pickens

(Encyclopedia)Fort Pickens, fortification on the western end of Santa Rosa Island at the entrance to Pensacola Bay, NW Fla. When Florida joined the Confederacy in Jan., 1861, Fort Barrancas on the mainland was evac...

Castle Pinckney

(Encyclopedia)Castle Pinckney, fortification on Shutes Folly, an island in the harbor of Charleston, S.C.; built in 1797, when war with France seemed imminent; named for the American diplomat Charles Cotesworth Pin...

pillbox

(Encyclopedia)pillbox, small, low fortification that houses machine guns and antitank weapons. Similar to a blockhouse, it is usually made of concrete, steel, logs, or filled sandbags. Pillboxes came into use durin...

Fort Meigs

(Encyclopedia)Fort Meigs mĕgz [key], American fortification on the Maumee River, near Perrysburg, N central Ohio; est. Feb., 1813, by Gen. William Henry Harrison across the river from British Fort Miami (see Maume...
 

Browse by Subject