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Porter, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Horace, 1837–1921, American soldier and diplomat, b. Huntingdon, Pa. In the Civil War he saw varied service, mostly as an ordnance officer, before becoming (1864) aide-de-camp to Gen. U. S. ...

Austin, Lloyd James, 3d

(Encyclopedia)Austin, Lloyd James, 3d, 1953–, U.S. army general and secretary of defense, b. Mobile, Ala., B.S West Point, 1975, M.A. Auburn Univ., 1986, M.B.A. Webster Univ., 1989. He entered the U.S. Army (1975...

Braintree, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Braintree, town (2020 pop. 39,143), E Mass., a suburb of Boston; inc. 1640. Metal, rubber, and paper are among its manufactures. Braintree included Quin...

Southern Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Southern Ocean or Antarctic Ocean, name sometimes given to those parts of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans that surround Antarctica S of roughly 60°S. These waters are marked by the Antarctic...

Buell, Don Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Buell, Don Carlos, 1818–98, Union general in the Civil War, b. near Marietta, Ohio, grad. West Point, 1841. Buell was appointed brigadier general of volunteers in the Civil War (May, 1861), helped o...

Vidal, Gore

(Encyclopedia)Vidal, Gore (Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, Jr.), 1925–2012, American writer, b. West Point, N.Y. He grew up in Washington, D.C., where a formative influence was his witty and scholarly grandfather, Sena...

Long Island, island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Long Island (1990 pop. 6,861,454), 1,723 sq mi (4,463 sq km), 118 mi (190 km) long, and from 12 to 20 mi (19–32 km) wide, SE N.Y.; fourth largest island of the United States and the largest outside ...

Shiloh, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Shiloh, battle of, Apr. 6–7, 1862, one of the great battles of the American Civil War. The battle took its name from Shiloh Church, a meetinghouse c.3 mi (5 km) SSW of Pittsburg Landing, which was a...

Mullan, John

(Encyclopedia)Mullan, John, 1830–1909, American army officer and pioneer road builder, b. Norfolk, Va., grad. St John's Colllege, 1847, West Point, 1852. He was one of the chief aides of General I. I. Stevens in ...

Gilpin, William

(Encyclopedia)Gilpin, William, 1813–94, U.S. army officer, politician, and businessman, b. Philadelphia, grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1833. He dropped out of West Point, but joined the army (1836) and fought in t...