and the county-seat of Muscogee county, Georgia,
U.S.A., on the E. bank and at the head of navigation of the
Chattahoochee river, about 100 m. S.S.W. of Atlanta. Pop. (1890) 17,303;
(1900) 17,614, of whom 7267 were negroes; (1910, census) 20,554. There
is also a considerable suburban population. Columbus is served by the
Southern, the Central of Georgia, and the Seaboard Air Line railways,
and three steamboat lines afford communication with Apalachicola,
Florida. The city has a public library. A fall in the river of 115 ft.
within a mile of the city furnishes a valuable water-power, which has
been utilized for public and private enterprises. The most important
industry is the manufacture of cotton goods; there are also cotton
compresses, iron works, flour and woollen mills, wood-working
establishments, &c. The value of the city's factory products increased
from $5,061,485 in 1900 to $7,079,702 in 1905, or 39.9%; of the total
value in 1905, $2,759,081, or 39%, was the value of the cotton goods
manufactured. There are many large factories just outside the city
limits. Columbus was one of the first cities in the United States to
maintain, at public expense, a system of trade schools. It has a large
wholesale and retail trade. The city was founded in 1827 and was
incorporated in 1828. In the latter year Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar
(1798-1859) established here the Columbus _Independent_, a
State's-Rights newspaper. For the first twenty years the city's leading
industry was trade in cotton. As this trade was diverted by the railways
to Savannah, the water-power was developed and manufactories were
established. During the Civil War the city ranked next to Richmond in
the manufacture of supplies for the Confederate army. On the 16th of
April 1865 it was captured by a Union force under General James Harrison
Wilson (b. 1837); 1200 Confederates were taken prisoners; large
quantities of arms and stores were seized, and the principal
manufactories and much other property were destroyed.

COLUMBUS, a city and the county-seat of Bartholomew county, Indiana,
U.S.A., situated on the E. fork of White river, a little S. of the
centre of the state. Pop. (1890) 6719; (1900) 8130, of whom 313 were
foreign-born and 224 were of negro descent (1910 census) 8813. In 1900
the centre of population of the United States was 5 m. S.E. of Columbus.
The city is served by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and
the Pittsburg, Cincinnati