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Fitzgibbon, James

(Encyclopedia)Fitzgibbon, James, 1780–1863, Canadian soldier, b. Ireland. As an officer in the War of 1812, he distinguished himself in the battle of Beaver Dams (1813) on the Niagara frontier. Warned by Laura Se...

Huntley, Chet

(Encyclopedia)Huntley, Chet (Chester Robert Huntley), 1911–74, American news broadcaster, b. Cardwell, Mont. He joined the National Broadcasting Company in 1955. Huntley and David Brinkley developed documentary t...

Ferney-Voltaire

(Encyclopedia)Ferney-Voltaire fĕrnāˈ-vôltĕrˈ [key], town, Ain dept., E France, on the French-Swiss frontier near Geneva. The town grew after Voltaire bought the seigniory of Ferney in 1758 to escape harassmen...

Pelusium

(Encyclopedia)Pelusium pĭlo͞oˈshēəm [key], ancient city of Egypt, on the easternmost branch of the Nile (long since silted up) and c.20 mi (30 km) E of modern Port Said. It was especially important as a fronti...

Bowers, Eilley

(Encyclopedia)Bowers, Eilley, c.1827–1903, American frontier figure, b. Eilley Orrum in Scotland. She became a Mormon and moved (1855) to Nevada with her second husband. He returned (1857) to Salt Lake City, but ...

Brown, Jacob Jennings

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Jacob Jennings, 1775–1828, American general, b. Bucks co., Pa. In the War of 1812 he defeated (May, 1813) a British attempt to take Sackets Harbor, N.Y., and the next year became commander of...

Orange Free State

(Encyclopedia)Orange Free State, former province, South Africa: see Free State. ...

mustang

(Encyclopedia)mustang [Sp. mesteño=a stray], small feral horse of the W United States. Mustangs are descended from escaped Native American horses, which in turn were descended from horses of North African blood, b...

blackbird

(Encyclopedia)blackbird, common name in North America of a perching bird allied to the bobolink, the meadow lark, the oriole, and the grackle and belonging to the family Icteridae. The European blackbird, Turdus me...

locoweed

(Encyclopedia)locoweed or crazyweed [Span. loco=crazy], any of several American species of the genera Astragalus and Oxytropus, north-temperate leguminous plants of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), that, when...