Scouting On Two Continents

All England cheered this modest American. He acquired his scouting lore warring against Apaches in Arizona. After hunting gold in the Northwest and the Klondike he rode deep into the savage territory of Africa to slay the M’Limo, treacherous Matabele high priest. During the Boer War he performed many thrilling exploits as chief of Scouts. He was honored in the friendship of Lord Roberts, Theodore Roosevelt, Cecil Rhodes, and Dr. Jameson and received the highest honors of the British Empire. In this book he tells in full detail the fascinating story of his thrilling and varied career. “In real life he is more interesting than any of my heroes of romance”—SIR RIDER HAGGARD “I have seldom been as much taken with a narrative”—REAR ADMIRAL WM. S. SIMS, U.S.N. “I have read it all with enthralled interest”—THEODORE ROOSEVELT “England was never made by her statesmen; England was made by her adventurers.”—GENERAL GORDON.

Frederick Russell Burnham: Explorer, discoverer, cowboy, and Scout.Native American, he served as chief of scouts in the Boer War, an intimate friend of Lord Baden-Powell. As an honorary Scout of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), he has served as an inspiration to the youth of the Nation and is the embodiment of the qualities of the ideal Scout.The BSA made Burnham an Honorary Scout in 1927, and for his noteworthy and extraordinary service to the Scouting movement, Burnham was bestowed the highest commendation given by the BSA, the Silver Buffalo Award, in 1936. Throughout his life he remained active in Scouting at both the regional and the national level in the United States and he corresponded regularly with Baden-Powell on Scouting topics.

Frederick Burnham Russell was one of the greatest military scouts to have ever lived. Born on a Dakota Sioux reservation he was taught the ways of the Native Americans from as soon as he could walk.At the tender age of fourteen, having had little formal education, he was supporting himself and learning from some of the last cowboys and frontiersmen of the Old West.These lessons would pay dividend in his later life, first as a tracker for the United States Army in the Apache Wars and later as a scout for the British Army in the Matebele Wars in Southern Africa.Frederick Burnham Russell was a remarkable figure who revolutionized the art of scouting in both the British and United States armies. Indeed his influence would lead his friend, Robert Baden-Powell, to begin the international Scouting Movement.In Scouting on Two Continents Burnham records the details of his brilliant life in fascinating detail and provides insight into the life of an unique adventurer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."Burnham in real life is more interesting than any of my heroes of romance." Rider Haggard"Burnham is a most delightful companion ... amusing, interesting, and most instructive. Having seen service against the Red Indians he brings quite a new experience to bear on the Scouting work here. And while he talks away there's not a thing escapes his quick roving eye, whether it is on the horizon or at his feet." Robert Baden-PowellFrederick Burnham Russell has been described as the "Father of Scouting." He fought in the Pleasant Valley War, Apache Wars, the First and Second Matabele Wars as well as the Second Boer War. His book Scouting on Two Continents was first published in 1926. He passed away in 1947.

If you like Scouting on Two Continents, you'll love Burnham's second Autobiography, Taking Chances, also brought back into print by The Kangaroo Feather Publishing Co. Frederick Russell Burnham was an American frontier scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement. Burnham had only a little formal education, attending high school but never graduating. He began his career at 14 in the American Southwest as a scout and tracker for the U.S. Army in the Apache Wars and Cheyenne Wars. Sensing the Old West was getting too tame Burnham travelled to Africa in 1893 where his background proved useful. Burnham distinguished himself in several battles in Rhodesia and South Africa and became Chief of Scouts of the British Army for Lord Roberts during the Boer War . Despite his U.S. citizenship, his military title was British and his rank of major was formally given to him by King Edward VII. In special recognition of Burnham's heroism, the King invested him into the Companions of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), giving Burnham the highest military honors earned by any American in the Second Boer War. During this time, Burnham became friends with Baden-Powell, and passed on to him both his outdoor skills and his spirit for what would later become known as Scouting. Burnham eventually moved on to become involved in espionage, oil, conservation, writing and business. His descendants are still active in the Scout Movement.

This volume deals with the conquest and colonization of Zimbabwe and the establishment of Southern Rhodesia, from the beginnings of British involvement in Bechuanaland to the death of Cecil Rhodes. Its emphasis is on the white invaders and its chief concern is white individuals, their motives, actions, and influence on events. The British South Africa Company and the irregularity of its financial and political operations are dealt with in detail. Keppel-Jones also discusses the development in the midst of the indigenous population of an alien white society and state, from their crude beginnings to their emergence in a form still recognizable today. The reader is led to conclude that by 1902 Southern Rhodesia was already set on the road that would lead to the upheavals of the second half of the twentieth-century. The author examines the racial consciousness and prejudice of the white society and addresses an important question: why did the imperial government grant a royal charter to the BSA Company? The facts show conclusively that the imperial government had little interest in Central Africa or care for its fate except when foreign competition appeared. Keppel-Jones also reveals the important role played by black troops employed by the Company in suppressing the rebellions of 1896-7. For opposite reasons, neither blacks nor whites have been willing to recognize this; on the other hand the habit of the 'men-on-the-spot' of making and carrying out decisions without regard to their superiors in London is a commonplace of imperial history. One of the main themes of the book is the tension between the unofficial imperialists, straining at the leash, and the Colonial Office, struggling to hold them back. Rhodes and Rhodesia is based on extensive use of public records, mainly in the Public Record Office, London, and the National Archives of Zimbabwe, of collections of private papers, and of contemporary published works. Arthur Keppel-Jones is professor emeritus of history at Queen's University.

A world-traveled writer recounts the amazing adventures of an American who mentored Robert Baden-Powell and inspired the Boy Scouts. Burnham is bigger than the Chief Scout.

In a very comprehensible and entertaining way explores the main findings of the first academic research on world scouting, the largest young movement on the planet. The work revisits scouting's origins, analyzing its structure and recognition policy, its role in developing ideas of global citizenship and belonging, and the spirit of scouting.