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Floyd, John Buchanan

(Encyclopedia)Floyd, John Buchanan, 1807–63, U.S. Secretary of War (1857–60) and Confederate general, b. Smithfield, Va. After failing as a lawyer and cotton planter in Arkansas, he returned to Virginia and pra...

Lee, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Arthur, 1740–92, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Francis L. Lee, Richard H. Lee, and William Lee. Educated in Great Britain, he returned to Virginia to pra...

Stuart, James Ewell Brown

(Encyclopedia)Stuart, James Ewell Brown (Jeb Stuart), 1833–64, Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War, b. Patrick co., Va. Most of his U.S. army service was with the 1st Cavalry in Kansas. On Vir...

Eastern Shore

(Encyclopedia)Eastern Shore, the tidewater region along E shore of Chesapeake Bay, including all of Maryland and Virginia E of the bay. The region's economy was historically based largely on agriculture and fishing...

Dennis, John

(Encyclopedia)Dennis, John, 1657–1734, English critic and playwright. Best known for his critical works, which include Grounds of Criticism in Poetry (1704) and An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare ...

Ingle, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Ingle, Richard, fl. 1642–53, English seaman and tobacco trader. Little is known of him. While the English civil war was in progress, he appeared (1645) with several ships off Maryland, and, armed wi...

Campbell, William

(Encyclopedia)Campbell, William, 1745–81, American Revolutionary soldier, b. Augusta co., Va.; brother-in-law of Patrick Henry. He fought in Lord Dunmore's War (1774) and helped expel the royal governor from Will...

Cartwright, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Cartwright, Peter, 1785–1872, American Methodist preacher, b. Virginia. He was a circuit rider in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois for nearly 50 years. In 1846 he was defeated as a c...

Swanson, Claude Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Swanson, Claude Augustus, 1862–1939, American politician, b. Pittsylvania co., Va. He practiced law in Chatham, Va., and after serving (1893–1905) in the U.S. House of Representatives he was (1906...

piedmont, physiographic region

(Encyclopedia)piedmont, any area near the foot of a mountain, particularly the plateau (the Piedmont) extending from New York to Alabama E of the Appalachian Mts. and W of the Atlantic coastal plain. In Maryland, V...