Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/42

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36 KNYPHAUSEN volumes, and of the state institution for the deaf and dumb. It has recently been selected as the site of the Knoxville university (Meth- odist), and of the freedmen's normal school to be established by the Presbyterians. There are several public and private schools, two daily and four weekly newspapers, a monthly periodical, and 20 churches. Knoxville was settled in 1789, and received its name two years later in honor of Gen. Henry Knox. From 1794 to 1817 it was the territorial and state capital. For a brief period during the civil war Knoxville was a point of considerable strate- gical importance. It had been held by the confederates, who abandoned it early in Sep- tember, 1863, upon the approach of the Union force under Gen. Burnside. Soon after the federal reverse at Ohickamauga, Sept. 19, 20, Longstreet was sent to operate against Burn- side, who was strongly intrenched at Knox- ville. Longstreet made a vigorous and partial- ly successful assault, Nov. 18, and as Burnside had provisions for only three weeks, the con- federates hoped to reduce him by famine. But Bragg was signally defeated at Cftattanooga, Nov. 24, 25, and a strong federal force under Sherman moved toward Knoxville. Longstreet thereupon ventured (Nov. 29) upon an assault on Fort Sanders, the key to the federal posi- tion. It was repulsed, the confederates losing about 500 men, the federals less than 50 ; and the siege was virtually raised, although Long- street did not finally retire till Dec. 5. KNYPHAUSEN, Baron, a German soldier, born in Alsace about 1725, died in Berlin in June, 1789. His father commanded a regiment un- der the duke of Marlborougli, and his own military career commenced in the service of Frederick William I. of Prussia. Subsequently he served in the several wars waged by Fred- erick the Great against Austria. In 1776 he received from the British government the com- mand of 12,000 Waldeckers and Hessians hired to aid in repressing the insurrection in the American colonies, and arrived in New York in time to participate in the battle of Long Island in August. He was present at White Plains, and aided in the capture of Fort Wash- ington in November, and in the defeat of the American forces at Brandy wine in 1777. In June, 1780, being then in temporary command of the British troops in New York, during the absence of Sir Henry Clinton, he made a de- scent into the Jerseys with 5,000 men, in the hope of rallying the disaffected Americans to the royal standard; but he accomplished lit- tle beyond sacking the village of -Connecticut Farms. On the 23d he reentered the Jerseys with reinforcements, and after an indecisive conflict with Gen. Greene, and burning the vil- lage of Springfield, he returned to Staten Island. KOALA, or Kangaroo Bear, a marsupial animal of the phalanger family and genus phaseolarctos (De Blainville). the P. cinereus (Fisch.). The dental formula is: incisors -fif, canines ^z^, premolars ~%, molars |z|=30 ; the posterior KOBELL upper incisors and canines are small, and the crowns of the molars have four tubercles. The body is stout ; the head moderate, with a very short facial portion and naked muffle ; ears moderate and clothed with long hairs; eyes large and not protected by lashes ; mous- taches small and scanty. The toes of the fore feet are in two sets, one composed of the two inner (which are the shortest), and the other of the three outer, of which the central is the longest, and all have long, curved, and com- pressed claws; the two portions of the feet are slightly opposable ; the first toe of the hind feet is very far back, large, and without a nail. The stomach is provided with a cardiac glandu- lar apparatus, and the caecum is three times as long as the animal ; the pouch is well devel- oped ; the tail .is wanting. The koala is about 2 ft. long, 10 or 11 in. high, with a girth of 18 in. ; the limbs are powerful, and the large hands and feet admirably adapted for climbing trees ; the fur is dense, soft, and woolly, of a Koala (Phaseolarctos cinereus). general ashy gray color, inclining to brown ; hinder part of back dirty yellowish white, under parts dirty white, and inside of hind limbs rusty brown. It inhabits New South Wales, where the natives hunt it for the flesh, pursuing it into the tops of the highest gum trees, in which it passes the day feeding on the tender shoots or sleeping ; it descends the trees at night in search of roots, which it digs up with its powerful claws. On the ground it creeps slowly, and when climbing looks like a small bear; when angry it assumes a fierce look and utters a shrill cry. Koalas are found in pairs, and the mother carries her young one on her back when it has outgrown her pouch; they are very tenacious of life. The skull is remarkable for its oblong quadrate form, great width of nasal bones, length of zygoinatio arches, auditory protuberances, and depth of rami of lower jaw. KOBELL, Franz von, a German mineralogist, born in Munich, July 19, 1803. He is professor of mineralogy at Munich, and has popularized