Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Harney, William Selby

(Encyclopedia)Harney, William Selby, 1800–1889, American general, b. Haysboro, near Nashville, Tenn. He entered the army in 1818 and gained a colonel's rank in the Florida campaigns against Native Americans. Rank...

Harper, William Rainey

(Encyclopedia)Harper, William Rainey, 1856–1906, American educator and Hebrew scholar, b. New Concord, Ohio, grad. Muskingum College, 1870, Ph.D. Yale, 1875. The author of many texts on Hebrew language and litera...

Frederick William II

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William II, 1744–97, king of Prussia (1786–97), nephew and successor of Frederick II (Frederick the Great). He had the power but lacked the ability of his distinguished predecessors. He ...

Frederick William III

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William III, 1770–1840, king of Prussia (1797–1840), son and successor of Frederick William II. Well-intentioned but weak and vacillating, he endeavored to maintain neutrality in the Nap...

Frederick William IV

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William IV, 1795–1861, king of Prussia (1840–61), son and successor of Frederick William III. A romanticist and a mystic, he conceived vague schemes of reform based on a revival of the m...

Freshfield, Douglas William

(Encyclopedia)Freshfield, Douglas William, 1845–1934, English explorer and mountaineer. A prominent member of the Royal Geographical Society, he did pioneer climbing in the Caucasus, the Himalayas, and the mounta...

Graves, William Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Graves, William Sidney, 1865–1940, American army officer, b. Hill co., Tex., grad. West Point, 1889. He served (1899–1901) in the Philippines and commanded (1918–20) American forces in Siberia. ...

Gwin, William McKendree

(Encyclopedia)Gwin, William McKendree, 1805–85, American politician, b. Sumner co., Tenn. He received (1828) a degree in medicine from Transylvania Univ. and practiced in Clinton, Miss., until 1833. He represente...

Goudy, Frederic William

(Encyclopedia)Goudy, Frederic William gouˈdē [key], 1865–1947, American type designer, b. Bloomington, Ill. Goudy is celebrated as one of the finest and most prolific type designers in history. In 1905, Goudy e...

Grace, William Russell

(Encyclopedia)Grace, William Russell, 1832–1904, American financier, b. Queenstown, Ireland. He was in business in England and Peru before establishing (1865) W. R. Grace & Company in New York City. After Per...

Browse by Subject