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Avalon

(Encyclopedia)Avalon ăvˈəlŏn [key], in Celtic mythology, the blissful otherworld of the dead. In medieval romance it was the island to which the mortally wounded King Arthur was taken, and from which it was exp...

Ctesias

(Encyclopedia)Ctesias tēˈshēəs, tēˈsēəs [key], fl. 400 b.c., Greek historian and physician of Cnidus. He lived many years in the Persian court. He tended Artaxerxes II when he was wounded in the battle of C...

Corbin, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Corbin, Margaret kôrˈbĭn [key], 1751–1800, American Revolutionary heroine, b. Franklin co., Pa. Upon the death of her husband in the attack on Fort Washington (Nov. 16, 1776), she commanded his c...

Gilboa

(Encyclopedia)Gilboa gĭlbōˈə [key], Arabic Jabal Faqquah, range of hills, eastern spur of the Samarian Hills, located at the southeastern edge of the Esdraelon plain, NE Israel; rising to 1,630 ft (497 m) at Mt...

Cargill, Donald

(Encyclopedia)Cargill, Donald, 1619?–1681, Scottish Covenanter. He was a minister in Glasgow from c.1655 until 1662, when he was expelled for denouncing the Restoration and resisting the establishment of the epis...

Quantrill, William Clarke

(Encyclopedia)Quantrill, William Clarke kwŏnˈtrĭl [key], 1837–65, Confederate guerrilla leader, b. Canal Dover (now Dover), Ohio. In the Civil War his band of guerrillas was active in Missouri and Kansas. He w...

Daun, Leopold Joseph Maria, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Daun, Leopold Joseph Maria, Graf von lāˈōpôlt yōˈzĕf märēˈä gräf fən doun [key], 1705–66, Austrian field marshal. He gained distinction in the War of the Austrian Succession. Daun later...

Alaungpaya

(Encyclopedia)Alaungpaya əlŏngˈpāyä [key], 1711–60, Burmese king, founder of the Konbaung dynasty, which ruled until 1885. His name, also given as Alompra, means “the coming Buddha.” The son of a village...

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, ...

Brown, Jacob Jennings

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Jacob Jennings, 1775–1828, American general, b. Bucks co., Pa. In the War of 1812 he defeated (May, 1813) a British attempt to take Sackets Harbor, N.Y., and the next year became commander of...