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Libby Prison

(Encyclopedia)Libby Prison, in Richmond, Va., a Confederate prison for captured Union officers in the American Civil War. It was previously a tobacco warehouse. Living conditions were extremely bad; the food, somet...

John VIII, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John VIII (John Palaeologus), 1390–1448, Byzantine emperor (1425–48), son and successor of Manuel II. When he acceded, the Byzantine Empire had been reduced by the Turks to the city of Constantino...

Nicholson, James William Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Nicholson, James William Augustus, 1821–87, American naval officer, b. Dedham, Mass.; grandson of Samuel Nicholson. He was appointed a midshipman in 1838, served under Commodore Perry in East Asia (...

Pico Rivera

(Encyclopedia)Pico Rivera pēˈkō rĭvĕrˈə [key], city (1990 pop. 59,177), Los Angeles co., SW Calif., SE of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers; inc. 1958 with the union of Pico and Rivera into...

Fort Pickens

(Encyclopedia)Fort Pickens, fortification on the western end of Santa Rosa Island at the entrance to Pensacola Bay, NW Fla. When Florida joined the Confederacy in Jan., 1861, Fort Barrancas on the mainland was evac...

Hertwig, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Hertwig, Oscar ôsˈkär hĕrtˈvĭkh [key], 1849–1922, German embryologist. He studied medicine with Haeckel and Gegenbaur. In 1875 he established the fact that fertilization consists of the union ...

Váh

(Encyclopedia)Váh väkh [key], Hung. Vág, river, c.245 mi (390 km) long, Slovakia. It is formed by the union of the Biély Váh, rising in the High Tatra, and the Cierny Váh, rising in the Low Tatra, and flows S...

Tallahassee

(Encyclopedia)Tallahassee tăləhăsˈē [key], city (1990 pop. 124,773), state capital and seat of Leon co., NW Fla.; inc. 1825. Tallahassee is a wholesale trade and distribution center for the surrounding lumber,...

Kenyatta, Jomo

(Encyclopedia)Kenyatta, Jomo jōˈmō kĕnyäˈtə [key], 1893?–1978, African political leader, first president of Kenya (1964–78). A Kikuyu, he was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leader...

James, rivers, United States

(Encyclopedia)James. 1 Unnavigable river, 710 mi (1,143 km) long, rising in central N.Dak. and flowing across S.Dak. to the Missouri River at Yankton, S.Dak. Jamestown Dam on the river is an irrigation and flood co...
 

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