Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835–1905, Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, b. “Clermont,” Fairfax co., Va.; nephew of Robert E. Lee. He campaigned against the Comanche in Texas and later w...

(Encyclopedia) Penn, Arthur Hiller, 1922–2010, American director, brother of Irving Penn, b. Philadelphia; studied Black Mountain College and the Actors' Studio, Los Angeles. Penn, who often dealt with themes of a...

(Encyclopedia) Mountain Meadows, small valley in extreme SW Utah, where in 1857 a party of some 140 emigrants bound for California were massacred. It was a period when friction between Mormons and non-Mormons was ac...

(Encyclopedia) botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in bot...

(Encyclopedia) Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, 1867–1957, American author of the classic Little House series of children's books, b. Pepin, Wis. She and her pioneer family traveled (1869–79) throughout the Midw...

(Encyclopedia) Halleck, Henry Wager, 1815–72, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Oneida co., N.Y., grad. West Point, 1839. He entered the Corps of Engineers and became an expert on fortifications; his Ele...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 South Dakota dəkōˈtə [key], state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). ...

(Encyclopedia) Aceh äˈchā [key], special region (1980 pop. 2,875,634), 21,387 sq mi (55,392 sq km), N Sumatra, Indonesia, formerly known as Atjeh or Achin. The capital and largest city is Banda Aceh. The northern...

(Encyclopedia) McAdoo, William Gibbs măkˈədo͞o [key], 1863–1941, American political leader, U.S. secretary of the treasury (1913–18), b. near Marietta, Ga. The son of a prominent Georgia jurist, McAdoo becam...

(Encyclopedia) Okuma, Shigenobu shēgāˈnōbo͞o ōˈko͞omä [key], 1838–1922, Japanese statesman. He was an early supporter of the emperor and entered the Meiji government as finance minister in 1869. In 1876 h...