Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

484 results found

fire-eaters

(Encyclopedia)fire-eaters, in U.S. history, term applied by Northerners to proslavery extremists in the South in the two decades before the Civil War. Edmund Ruffin, Robert B. Rhett, and William L. Yancey were the ...

Wheeler, William Almon

(Encyclopedia)Wheeler, William Almon, 1819–87, American legislator, vice president of the United States (1877–81), b. Malone, N.Y. Admitted to the New York bar (1845), he was district attorney of Franklin co., ...

Stillingfleet, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635–99, English prelate and author. A fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, he became (1657) rector of Sutton, Bedfordshire. In 1661 he published Irenicum, a treatise on c...

Beust, Friedrich Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Beust, Friedrich Ferdinand frēˈdrĭkh fĕrˈdĭnänt boist [key], 1809–86, Saxon and Austrian politician. He held various portfolios in the Saxon ministry and served as premier (1853–66), but hi...

James, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)James, Jesse (Woodson), 1847–82, American outlaw, b. Clay co., Mo. At the age of 15 he joined the Confederate guerrilla band led by William Quantrill and participated in the brutal and bloody civil ...

Shawnee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Shawnee shôˈwənō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their earliest known hom...

Osage, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Osage ōˈsāj, ōsājˈ [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In prehistoric time...

Marshall

(Encyclopedia)Marshall. 1 City (1990 pop. 12,711), seat of Saline co., N central Mo.; inc. 1839. In a large farm area, it is a processing center for grain, eggs, meat, and dairy products. Marshall is the seat of Mi...

Applegate, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)Applegate, Jesse, 1811–88, American pioneer in Oregon, b. Kentucky. With his family he moved (1821) to Missouri, and there in 1843 he joined the Great Migration of more than 900 people over the Oreg...

Joplin

(Encyclopedia)Joplin jŏpˈlĭn [key], city (1990 pop. 40,961), Jasper and Newton counties, SW Mo., at the edge of the Ozarks; settled c.1839, inc. 1873. It is a railroad center, the shipping and processing point o...
 

Browse by Subject