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Memorial Day

(Encyclopedia)Memorial Day, holiday in the United States observed in late May. Previously designated Decoration Day, it was inaugurated in 1868 by Gen. John A. Logan for the purpose of decorating the graves of Civi...

Hudson, Henry Norman

(Encyclopedia)Hudson, Henry Norman, 1814–86, American essayist, b. Cornwall, Vt., grad. Middlebury College, 1840. During the Civil War he served as chaplain with Gen. B. F. Butler. He later arraigned Butler in A ...

Distinguished Service Cross

(Encyclopedia)Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, and Distinguished Service Order: see decorations, civil and military. ...

Chickahominy

(Encyclopedia)Chickahominy chĭkəhŏmˈĭnē [key], river, c.90 mi (140 km) long, rising NW of Richmond, Va., and flowing SE to the James River. In the Civil War fighting was heavy along its banks. ...

Woodworth, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Woodworth, Samuel, 1784–1842, American author, b. Scituate, Mass. He edited (1823–24) the New York Mirror and was author of the song “The Old Oaken Bucket.” His comedy The Forest Rose (1825) w...

McClernand, John Alexander

(Encyclopedia)McClernand, John Alexander, 1812–1900, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Breckinridge co., Ky. He was admitted (1832) to the Illinois bar and sat as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Represe...

Great Society

(Encyclopedia)Great Society, in U.S. history, term for the domestic policies of President Lyndon Johnson. In his first State of the Union message, he called for a war on poverty and the creation of a “Great Socie...

Du Pont, Samuel Francis

(Encyclopedia)Du Pont, Samuel Francis, 1803–65, American naval officer, b. Bergen Point, N.J.; grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. Appointed a midshipman in 1815, he saw his first active duty in the Med...

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816–94, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Waltham, Mass. After serving in the Massachusetts legislature (1849–53), Banks entered Congress as a ...

Union City

(Encyclopedia)Union City. 1 Residential city (1990 pop. 53,762), Alameda co., W Calif., in an agricultural region; inc. 1959 with the merger of Decoto and Alvarado districts. Metal, plastic, paper, and food product...