Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Fort Stanwix, colonial outpost on the site of Rome, N.Y., controlling a principal route from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario. Originally a French trading center, it was rebuilt by the English general...

(Encyclopedia) Merryman, ex parte, case decided in 1861 by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney sitting as a federal circuit judge in Baltimore. John Merryman, a citizen of Maryland, was imprisoned by the U.S. army on suspi...

(Encyclopedia) Cobb, Howell, 1815–68, American politican, b. Jefferson co., Ga. In 1837 he became solicitor general of the western judicial circuit of Georgia, a district populated largely by small farmers of Unio...

(Encyclopedia) Gorgas, Josiah gôrˈgəs [key], 1818–83, chief of ordnance in the Confederate army during the American Civil War, b. Dauphin co., Pa.; father of William Crawford Gorgas. He was commissioned in the ...

(Encyclopedia) Jogues, Isaac (Saint Isaac Jogues) ēzäkˈ zhôg [key], 1607–46, French Jesuit missionary and martyr in the New World; one of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America. He arrived in Quebec in 1636 and i...

(Encyclopedia) Spotswood, Alexander, 1676–1740, colonial governor of Virginia, b. Tangier, Morocco. Appointed in 1710, he was officially lieutenant governor under the nominal governorship of George Hamilton, 1st e...

(Encyclopedia) Brulé, Étienne ātyĕnˈ brülāˈ [key], c.1592–1632, French explorer in North America. He arrived (1608) in the New World with Samuel de Champlain, who sent him (1610) into the wilderness to lea...

(Encyclopedia) Wheeler, Joseph, 1836–1906, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Augusta, Ga. He resigned from the U.S. army in Apr., 1861, to fight for the Confederacy. He commanded a regiment at Shil...

(Encyclopedia) Clay, Clement Claiborne, 1816–82, U.S. Senator (1853–61), b. Huntsville, Ala. A legislator and then a judge in his native state, he was twice elected to the U.S. Senate and became an ardent defend...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Monroe, SE Va., commanding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads; named for President James Monroe. The fortress (80 acres/32 hectares) was built (1819–34) by the U.S. government on ...