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Bunker Hill, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Bunker Hill, battle of, in the American Revolution, June 17, 1775. Detachments of colonial militia under Artemas Ward, Nathanael Greene, John Stark, and Israel Putnam laid siege to Boston shortly afte...

Bridgman, Laura

(Encyclopedia)Bridgman, Laura, 1829–89, the first blind and deaf person to be successfully educated, b. Hanover, N.H. Under the guidance of Dr. S. G. Howe, of the Perkins School for the Blind, she learned to read...

Singer, Isaac Merrit

(Encyclopedia)Singer, Isaac Merrit, 1811–75, American inventor, b. Rensselaer co., N.Y. As a child he lived in Oswego, N.Y. He patented in 1851 a practical sewing machine that could do continuous stitching. Altho...

Wendell, Barrett

(Encyclopedia)Wendell, Barrett wĕnˈdəl [key], 1855–1921, American teacher and scholar, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1877. He taught at Harvard (1880–1917) and lectured at Cambridge and the Sorbonne. Among his w...

Maeshowe

(Encyclopedia)Maeshowe or Maes Howe māsˈhou [key], prehistoric monument, on Mainland in the Orkney Islands, off N Scotland, near Stenness (see Stenness, Loch of). A passage grave with a corbeled vault, it measure...

Scotland Yard

(Encyclopedia)Scotland Yard, headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police. The term is often used, popularly, to refer to one branch, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Named after a short street in Lon...

Clinton, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Clinton, Sir Henry, 1738?–1795, British general in the American Revolution, b. Newfoundland; son of George Clinton (1686?–1761). He was an officer in the New York militia and then in the Coldstrea...

Graves, Thomas Graves, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Graves, Thomas Graves, Baron, 1725?–1802, British admiral. During the American Revolution his fleet was routed (1781) by the comte de Grasse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, a defeat that led directl...

Fields, James Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fields, James Thomas, 1817–81, American author and publisher, b. Portsmouth, N.H. He was the junior partner of Ticknor and Fields, noted Boston publishing house in the mid-19th cent. He edited (1861...

Perkins School for the Blind

(Encyclopedia)Perkins School for the Blind, at Watertown, Mass.; chartered 1829, opened 1832 in South Boston as the New England Asylum for the Blind, with Samuel G. Howe as its director; moved 1912. From 1877 to 19...