Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Spaulding, Elbridge Gerry

(Encyclopedia)Spaulding, Elbridge Gerry, 1809–97, U.S. banker and politician, b. Locke (now Summer Hill), N.Y. A lawyer practicing in Buffalo, N.Y., after 1834, he gradually became a banker there and was active i...

Budenny, Semyon Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Budenny, Semyon Mikhailovich sĭmyôn mēkhīˈləvĭch bo͞odyôˈnē [key], 1883–1973, Russian marshal. A sergeant major in the czarist cavalry, he joined the Communist party in 1919, helped to or...

buffalo soldiers

(Encyclopedia)buffalo soldiers, name given to the African-American U.S. army regiments commissioned by Congress to patrol the American West after the Civil War. Consisting of two infantry and two cavalry regiments,...

Vernon, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Vernon, Edward, 1684–1757, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1700 and rose steadily in rank. A member of Parliament from 1722, he opposed the government of Sir Robert Walpole and urged war wit...

Belknap, William Worth

(Encyclopedia)Belknap, William Worth, 1829–90, U.S. Secretary of War (1869–76), b. Newburgh, N.Y. After practicing law in Iowa, he served in the Civil War, was a division commander under Sherman in Georgia and ...

Yankee

(Encyclopedia)Yankee, term used by Americans generally in reference to a native of New England and by non-Americans, especially the British, in reference to an American of any section. The word is most likely from ...

Hoffmann, Max

(Encyclopedia)Hoffmann, Max, 1869–1927, German general in World War I. A brilliant strategist, he contributed to the German victory over the Russians at Tannenberg and in 1916 became chief of staff of the eastern...

Balls Bluff

(Encyclopedia)Balls Bluff, hill on the south bank of the Potomac River, near Leesburg, Va. In the Civil War, Union troops who had crossed the river were severely repulsed there on Oct. 21, 1861. Dissatisfaction wit...

Dresden

(Encyclopedia)Dresden drĕzˈdən [key], city, capital of Saxony, E central Germany, on the Elbe River. It ...

Hohenfriedeberg

(Encyclopedia)Hohenfriedeberg hōˌənfrēˈdəbərk [key], Pol. Dobromierz, town, Dolnośląskie prov., SW Poland. In 1745 it was the site of the victory of Frederick II of Prussia over the Austrian and Saxon forc...