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Astoria

(Encyclopedia)Astoria ăstôrˈēə [key]. 1 Commercial, industrial, and residential section of NW Queens borough of New York City, SE N.Y.; settled in the 17th cent. as Hallet's Cove. It was renamed for John Jacob...

Dutch West India Company

(Encyclopedia)Dutch West India Company, trading and colonizing company, chartered by the States-General of the Dutch republic in 1621 and organized in 1623. Through its agency New Netherland was founded. The phenom...

Sunbury

(Encyclopedia)Sunbury, city (1990 pop. 11,591), seat of Northumberland co., E central Pa., on the Susquehanna River at the confluence of its north and west branches; laid out 1772, inc. 1921. It is in an agricultur...

Whiting, William Henry Chase

(Encyclopedia)Whiting, William Henry Chase, 1825–65, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Biloxi, Miss. He served in the U.S. army until Feb., 1861, when he resigned and entered the Confederate servi...

pinochle

(Encyclopedia)pinochle pēˈnŭˌkəl [key], card game, probably derived from bezique, that was developed in the United States in the 19th cent. Pinochle is played by two, three, or four players, with a deck of 48 ...

Gansevoort, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Gansevoort, Peter gănsˈvo͝ort [key], 1749–1812, soldier in the American Revolution, b. Albany, N.Y. He served in the Quebec campaign and in 1777 was in command of Fort Schuyler (former Fort Stanw...

Dodge City

(Encyclopedia)Dodge City, city (2020 pop. 27,788), seat of Ford co., SW Kans., on the Arkansas River; inc. 1875. The distribution center for a wheat and livestock pro...

Pocatello

(Encyclopedia)Pocatello pōkətĕlˈō [key], city (1990 pop. 46,080), seat of Bannock co., SE Idaho, between mountains on the Portneuf River near its junction with the Snake (there dammed to form the American Fall...

Floyd, John Buchanan

(Encyclopedia)Floyd, John Buchanan, 1807–63, U.S. Secretary of War (1857–60) and Confederate general, b. Smithfield, Va. After failing as a lawyer and cotton planter in Arkansas, he returned to Virginia and pra...

inheritance tax

(Encyclopedia)inheritance tax, assessment made on the portion of an estate received by an individual; it differs from an estate tax, which is a tax levied on an entire estate before it is distributed to individuals...