Frederick Russell Burnham

Frederick Russell Burnham
Nickname	The King of Scouts; He-who-sees-in-the-dark; Fred
Born	(1861-05-11)May 11, 1861
Died	September 1, 1947(1947-09-01) (aged 86)
Allegiance	Scout for the British Army in Southern Africa; U.S. citizen.
Years of service	1893–1897, 1900–1901
Rank	Major
Commands held	Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts
Battles/wars	Pleasant Valley War Indian Wars: — Apache Wars — Cheyenne War — Geronimo campaign First Matabele War: — Shangani Patrol Second Matabele War: — Assassination of Mlimo Second Boer War: — Battle of Paardeberg — Driefontein (March 10, 1900) — Johannesburg (May 31, 1900) — March on Pretoria (June 2–5, 1900)
Awards	Distinguished Service Order Queen's South Africa Medal British South Africa Company Medal Victoria Cross (declined) Boy Scouts Silver Buffalo Award Mount Burnham (California).
Other work	messenger, Indian tracker, gold miner, rich oil man, American spy. Father of the international Scouting movement and a close friend of Robert Baden-Powell.

Frederick Russell Burnham DSO (May 11, 1861 – September 1, 1947) was an American scout. He travelled the world and had many adventures. He served to the British Army in colonial Africa and for taught scouting to Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts.

Burnham attended high school but never graduated. When he was 14 he began his working as a scout and tracker for the U.S. Army. As an adult Burnham went to Africa where this background proved useful. He soon became an officer in the British Army and fought in several battles there. During this time Burnham became friends with Baden-Powell and taught him both his outdoor skills and his spirit for what became known as Scouting.

Burnham eventually became involved in espionage, oil, conservation, writing and business. His descendants are still active in Scouting.

Other websites

• Major Burnham on Pine Tree Web scouting site Archived 2006-05-09 at the Wayback Machine.
• Frederick Howard Russell Burnham (great grand nephew)
• "The Canadian Anglo Boer War Museum". December 2003. Archived from the original on January 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help)