Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

West, Jessamyn

(Encyclopedia)West, Jessamyn, 1907–84, American novelist, b. Indiana. A Quaker herself, her most famous novel is The Friendly Persuasion (1945), about the conflicts felt by a Quaker farm family during the Civil W...

Yates, Richard, American political leader

(Encyclopedia)Yates, Richard, 1815–73, American political leader, b. Warsaw, Ky. He studied law and became a lawyer and Whig politician in Jacksonville, Ill. A state legislator (1842–46, 1848–50) and U.S. Con...

McClellan, George Brinton

(Encyclopedia)McClellan, George Brinton, 1826–85, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Philadelphia. After graduating (1846) from West Point, he served with distinction in the Mexican War and later worked ...

Island No. 10

(Encyclopedia)Island No. 10, former island in the Mississippi River, between NW Tenn. and SE Mo.; site of an important western campaign of the Civil War. With the advance of Union Gen. U. S. Grant up the Tennessee ...

Lyall, Sir Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Lyall, Sir Charles James līˈəl [key], 1845–1920, British Orientalist and civil servant in India. He held various offices in India and became chief commissioner of the Central Provs. (1895–98). ...

Clark, William Smith

(Encyclopedia)Clark, William Smith, 1826–86, American educator, b. Ashfield, Mass., grad. Amherst, 1848, and studied chemistry and botany at Göttingen (Ph.D., 1852). He taught at Amherst until the Civil War, fou...

Clews, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Clews, Henry, c.1836–1923, American financier, b. England. He emigrated to the United States c.1850 and joined an import business as a junior clerk. In 1859 he cofounded the banking firm that later ...

Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence, 1828–1914, Union general in the Civil War, b. Brewer, Maine, grad. Bowdoin, 1852, and Bangor Theological Seminary, 1855. He taught at Bowdoin from 1855 to 1862, when he...

Cobb, Thomas Reade Rootes

(Encyclopedia)Cobb, Thomas Reade Rootes, 1823–62, American lawyer, b. Jefferson co., Ga.; brother of Howell Cobb. Admitted to the bar in 1842, he edited 20 volumes of the Georgia supreme court reports (1849–57)...

Abeokuta

(Encyclopedia)Abeokuta äˌbēōko͞oˈtə, ăbˌ– [key], city (1991 est. pop. 377,000), SW Nigeria. It is the trade center for an agricultural region producing rice, yams, cassava, cotton, fruit, vegetables, and...
 

Browse by Subject