Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Poinsett, Joel Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Poinsett, Joel Roberts poinˈsĕt [key], 1779–1851, American diplomat and politician, b. Charleston, S.C. In 1810 he was sent as a special commissioner to South America to investigate political cond...

Jackson, Maynard Holbrook, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Maynard Holbrook, Jr., 1938–2003, American politician, b. Dallas, Tex., grad. Morehouse College (B.A., 1956), North Carolina Central Univ. (J.D., 1964). Jackson, a Democratic lawyer with a ...

Virginia Beach

(Encyclopedia)Virginia Beach, resort city (1990 pop. 393,069), independent and in no county, SE Va., on the Atlantic coast; inc. 1906. In 1963, Princess Anne co. and the former small town of Virginia Beach were mer...

Charlotte, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Charlotte, city (2020 pop. 874,579), seat of Mecklenburg co., S N.C.; inc. 1768. The largest city in the state and the commercial and industrial leader ...

Gregg, William

(Encyclopedia)Gregg, William, 1800–1867, American industrialist, known as the “father of Southern cotton manufacture,” b. Monongalia co., Va. (now W.Va.). He devoted his life to building up Southern industry....

Orangeburg

(Encyclopedia)Orangeburg, city (1990 pop. 13,739), seat of Orangeburg co., central S.C., on the North Fork of the Edisto River; settled 1732, inc. as a city 1883. It is the trade and processing center of a cotton a...

Waterhouse, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Waterhouse, Alfred, 1830–1905, English architect. He won competitions for the Manchester assize court (1859) and the Manchester city hall (1868). This work placed him in the forefront of the Victori...

Preston, John Smith

(Encyclopedia)Preston, John Smith, 1809–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. near Abingdon, Va. He practiced law at Abingdon and Columbia, S.C., but made his fortune operating a Louisiana sugar p...

Georgia, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Georgia jôrˈjə [key], state in the SE United States, the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be founded. It is bordered by Florida (S), Alabama (W), Tennessee and North Carolina (N), and South ...

Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...