Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Shawnee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Shawnee shôˈwənō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their earliest known hom...

De Forest, John William

(Encyclopedia)De Forest, John William də fôrˈəst, fŏrˈ– [key], 1826–1906, American author, b. Seymour, Conn. He served in the Civil War, chiefly as a captain. His vivid accounts of battle scenes in Louisi...

Houston, David Franklin

(Encyclopedia)Houston, David Franklin hyo͞oˈstən [key], 1866–1940, American cabinet officer and educator, b. Monroe, N.C., grad. South Carolina College, 1887, M.A. Harvard, 1892. He taught political science at...

Green, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Green, Paul, 1894–1981, American dramatist, b. Lillington, N.C., grad. Univ. of North Carolina, 1921. He is known for his realistic plays depicting the lives of blacks and white tenant farmers. His ...

Westmoreland, William Childs

(Encyclopedia)Westmoreland, William Childs, 1914–2005, U.S. general, b. Spartanburg co., S.C. He graduated from West Point in 1936 and fought with distinction in North Africa and Europe during World War II and la...

Reno, Jesse Lee

(Encyclopedia)Reno, Jesse Lee rēˈnō [key], 1823–62, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Wheeling, Va. (now W.Va.). He was twice brevetted for his service in the Mexican War. In the Civil War, Reno was ...

Du Pont, Samuel Francis

(Encyclopedia)Du Pont, Samuel Francis, 1803–65, American naval officer, b. Bergen Point, N.J.; grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. Appointed a midshipman in 1815, he saw his first active duty in the Med...

Lawson, John

(Encyclopedia)Lawson, John, d. 1711, English explorer of North Carolina. He came to the Carolinas in 1700 and within the next few years traveled approximately 1,000 mi (1,600 km) through its unexplored parts. His d...

bobolink

(Encyclopedia)bobolink bŏbˈəlĭngkˌ [key], common name in the N United States and Canada for an American songbird, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, related to the blackbird and the oriole, belonging to the family Icterid...

Gadsden, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden, Christopher gădzˈdən [key], 1724–1805, American Revolutionary leader, b. Charleston, S.C., educated in England. He returned to Charleston (1746) and became a wealthy merchant. At the Sta...