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Appalachian Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Appalachian Mountains ăpəlāˈchən, –chēən, –lăchˈ– [key], mountain system of E North America, extending in a broad belt c.1,600 mi (2,570 km) SW from the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec prov....

Yorktown campaign

(Encyclopedia)Yorktown campaign, 1781, the closing military operations of the American Revolution. After his unsuccessful Carolina campaign General Cornwallis moved into Virginia to join British forces there. His l...

Champollion, Jean François

(Encyclopedia)Champollion, Jean François –fēzhäkˈ [key], 1778–1867, was an archaeologist and paleographer, a professor of Greek at Grenoble, and a curator of manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale. He a...

Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim

(Encyclopedia)Ellsworth, Elmer Ephraim, 1837–61, American Civil War hero, b. near Mechanicville, N.Y. Just before the Civil War he became famous for his Zouave company, which toured the North giving exhibition dr...

Monocacy

(Encyclopedia)Monocacy mənŏkˈəsē [key], river, c.60 mi (100 km) long, rising in S Pa., and flowing S across Md. to join the Potomac River near Frederick, Md. On its banks, just E of Frederick, the Civil War ba...

Nahanni National Park Reserve

(Encyclopedia)Nahanni National Park Reserve nəhănˈē [key], c.1,840 sq mi (4,766 sq km), Northwest Territories, Canada, W of Fort Simpson; est. 1972. Located just E of the Yukon border, the park extends along th...

Mary Washington College

(Encyclopedia)Mary Washington College, mainly at Fredericksburg, Va.; state supported; chartered 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women; first given its present name in 1938; coeducational since 1...

Armistead, Lewis Addison

(Encyclopedia)Armistead, Lewis Addison, 1817–63, Confederate general, b. New Bern, N.C. He was commissioned (1839) in the U.S. army from Virginia but resigned when that state seceded. In the Gettysburg campaign, ...

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 ...

climate

(Encyclopedia)climate, average condition of the atmosphere near the earth's surface over a long period of time, taking into account temperature, precipitation (see rain), humidity, wind, barometric pressure, and ot...