Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim

(Encyclopedia)Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim, 1837–61, American Civil War hero, b. near Mechanicville, N.Y. Just before the Civil War he became famous for his Zouave company, which toured the North giving exhibition dr...

Braudel, Fernand

(Encyclopedia)Braudel, Fernand, 1902–85, French historian. He studied under Lucien Febvre and was a founder of the Annales school of historiography. As a German prisoner-of-war during World War II, he wrote his m...

Rankin, Jeannette

(Encyclopedia)Rankin, Jeannette, 1880–1973, American pacifist, b. Missoula, Mont. She was active in social work and campaigned for woman suffrage. A Republican, she was the first woman in the United States to ser...

Preston, John Smith

(Encyclopedia)Preston, John Smith, 1809–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. near Abingdon, Va. He practiced law at Abingdon and Columbia, S.C., but made his fortune operating a Louisiana sugar p...

Czech Legion

(Encyclopedia)Czech Legion, military force of about 40,000 to 50,000 men, composed mostly of Czech and Slovak Russian prisoners of war and deserters from the Austro-Hungarian army who enrolled in the Russian army d...

Hurley, Patrick Jay

(Encyclopedia)Hurley, Patrick Jay, 1883–1963, U.S. cabinet officer, b. Choctaw Territory (now in Oklahoma). Hurley practiced law in Tulsa, Okla., was (1912–17) national attorney for the Choctaw Nation, and foug...

Gorgas, Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Gorgas, Josiah gôrˈgəs [key], 1818–83, chief of ordnance in the Confederate army during the American Civil War, b. Dauphin co., Pa.; father of William Crawford Gorgas. He was commissioned in the ...

Justo, Agustín Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Justo, Agustín Pedro ägo͞ostēnˈ pāˈᵺrō ho͞osˈtō [key], 1876–1943, president of Argentina (1932–38). An army general, he rose to prominence (1922) as minister of war under Marcelo Torc...

Royall, Kenneth Claiborne

(Encyclopedia)Royall, Kenneth Claiborne, 1894–1971, U.S. army officer and government official, b. Goldsboro, N.C., grad. Univ. of North Carolina (1914), Harvard Law School (1917). Royall served in World War I (19...

Ryti, Risto

(Encyclopedia)Ryti, Risto rēˈstō rüˈtē [key], 1889–1956, Finnish political leader. In 1919 he was elected to the Finnish diet. He later served as minister of finance (1921–24) and as governor of the Bank ...