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Walke, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Walke, Henry wôk [key], 1808–96, American naval officer, b. Princess Anne co., Va. Walke was appointed a midshipman in 1827, served in the Mexican War, and was later made a commander. In wisely rem...

Bigelow, John

(Encyclopedia)Bigelow, John bĭgˈəlō [key], 1817–1911, American editor, author, and diplomat, b. Malden, N.Y. In 1838 he was admitted to the New York bar. From 1848 to 1861 he shared with William Cullen Bryant...

Island No. 10

(Encyclopedia)Island No. 10, former island in the Mississippi River, between NW Tenn. and SE Mo.; site of an important western campaign of the Civil War. With the advance of Union Gen. U. S. Grant up the Tennessee ...

Civil War, in U.S. history

(Encyclopedia)Civil War, in U.S. history, conflict (1861–65) between the Northern states (the Union) and the Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. It is generally known in the So...

Pinyin

(Encyclopedia)Pinyin pĭnˈyĭnˈ [key] [Chin. Hanyu pinyin = Chinese phonetic alphabet], system of romanization of Chinese written characters, approved in 1958 by the government of the People's Republic of Chi...

Chambersburg

(Encyclopedia)Chambersburg, borough (2020 pop. 21,903), seat of Franklin co., S Pa.; settled 1730, inc. 1803. Food products, apparel, construction materials, and tran...

Thompson, Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Thompson, Jacob, 1810–85, U.S. Representative (1839–51) and Secretary of the Interior (1857–61), b. Caswell co., N.C. Thompson was a prosperous lawyer and prominent Democrat of Oxford, Miss. He ...

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...

Fort Pillow

(Encyclopedia)Fort Pillow, fortification on the Mississippi River, N of Memphis, Tenn.; built by Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow in 1862. Evacuated by the Confederates after the fall of Island No. 10 to the north, t...

Landry, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Landry, Tom (Thomas Wade Landry), 1924–2000, American football coach, b. Mission, Tex., B.S., Univ. of Texas, 1949, M.S. Univ. of Houston, 1952. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (1942–45), and...