Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Actium ăkˈtēəm, –shē– [key], promontory, NW Acarnania, Greece, at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. There are vestiges of several temples and an ancient town. At Actium was fought the naval ba...

(Encyclopedia) Pitcher, Molly, 1744–1832, American Revolutionary heroine whose real name was Mary Ludwig Hays or Heis, b. near Trenton, N.J. As the wife of John Hays or Heis, she carried water for her husband and ...

(Encyclopedia) Rehnskiöld, Karl Gustaf kärl gŭsˈtäv rānˈshöld [key], 1651–1722, Swedish field marshal. One of the ablest lieutenants of Charles XII in the Northern War, he played an important part in the P...

(Encyclopedia) Bagrationovsk bəgrŭˌtyēôˈnəfsk [key], town, NW European Russia, formerly in East Prussia, on the Polish border. Its German name was Eylau or Preussisch Eylau. It is a rail terminus and has meat...

(Encyclopedia) Æthelfrith ĕˈthəlfrĭth, ă– [key], d. 616, king of Northumbria (c.593–616). He was the first great Anglo-Saxon leader among the northern English; he united Bernicia and Deira into the kingdom...

(Encyclopedia) Cedar Creek, small tributary of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, N of Strasburg, N Va. It was the scene of a Civil War battle (Oct. 19, 1864) in which Union general P. H. Sheridan defeated J. A...

(Encyclopedia) Bastogne bästôˈnyə [key], Du. Bastenaken, town, Luxembourg prov., SE Belgium, in the Arde...

(Encyclopedia) Gibbon, John, 1827–96, Union general in the Civil War, b. near Holmesburg (now part of Philadelphia), Pa., grad. West Point, 1847. Made a brigadier general of volunteers (1862), he fought in the sec...

(Encyclopedia) Horatii hōrāˈshēī [key], in Roman legend, male triplets who represented Rome in a battle against Alba, which was represented by the Curiatii, also triplets. After two of the Horatii had been kill...

(Encyclopedia) Sturdee, Sir Frederick Charles Doveton stûrˈdē [key], 1859–1925, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1871 and rose to become (1914) chief of war staff at the admiralty on the outbreak of Worl...