Talk:Frederick Russell Burnham

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	Frederick Russell Burnham is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do.
Article milestones Date Process Result September 8, 2007 Good article nominee Listed September 29, 2007 Featured article candidate Promoted Current Status: Featured article

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The following user(s) are actively involved with this article and may be able to help with questions about verification and sources: Ctatkinson (Talk) This in no way implies article ownership; all editors are encouraged to contribute.

The term scouting is capitalized in this article in a manner that might initially seem inconsistent. As a synonym for military reconnaissance, the term follows normal capitalization rules. When referring to the Scouting Movement or any related associations, Scouting is always capitalized.

Contents 1 Possible texts for incorporation 2 cleanup tag 3 Further review urgent 4 Father of Scouting 5 GA status 6 Wow! 7 Burnham and Baden-Powell at camporee 8 Personal Life 9 FAC? 10 Images 11 wheelers and other oddities 12 sister links and portals

[edit] Possible texts for incorporation

The facts of Burnham's life were romantic enough. He was born on an Indian reservation in Minnesota on May 11, 1861, and the family moved to California. His father, Edwin Ottoway Burnham, died when "Fred" was only 13. His family then moved from California, but the young "Fred" stayed and made his own way. He was trained in scouting while still a boy by some of the last of the old frontiersmen. He fought in the Apache wars, rode shotgun for Wells Fargo, was caught up in the feuding between ranchers and sheepherders, and once was tracked for days by two men out to kill him for unstated reasons except that one was driven by “an insane jealousy.” He settled for a time in Rhodesia, where he made a name for himself as a scout in the Matabele wars. He was 38 years old and prospecting for gold in the Klondike when the Boer War began. There one day a cable reached him: “Lord Roberts appoints you on his personal staff as Chief of Scouts. If you accept, come at once the quickest way possible.” Although Cape Town is at the opposite end of the globe from the Klondike, he left within the hour.

Burnham arrived at the front just before the Battle of Paardeberg, and his first feat was to float down the Modder River through the Boer positions, concealed in an oxhide. He spent much time behind the Boer lines, was twice captured and twice escaped. In addition to gathering information he also hlew up railway bridges and tracks. Sent to cut the Pretoria-Lourcnco Marques line, the Boers’ vital link to the sea, Burnham was unhorsed and seriously wounded while still ten miles from his objective. Heroically he decided to go on, carrying with him the bags of explosives. In spite of the Boers’ vigilance and his own pain he reached the point to be cut, placed his charges, and blew the line in two places. After hiding for two days while Boer search parties passed all around him, Burnham at last made his way painfully back, stumbling and crawling, to the British lines.

Earlier military exploits in Rhodesia - With the Bulawayo Field Force there were a number of men known as American Scouts. Three of them were Major F. R. Burnhamn and Messrs. Swinburne and Blick. Major Burnham came to South Africa from the United States early in 1893. He joined the Victoria Column and took part in the battles at Bembesi and Shangani.

On Baden-Powell - It was on patrol, scouting in the Matopo Hills, that B-P first met Major Frederick Burnham, an American military scout in the employ of Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company. The meeting made a lasting impression on Burnham. Burnham's description of their scouting days together is one of the earliest pictures of B-P's military exploits and his thoughts about the future.

[edit] cleanup tag

This article has excessive redirects back to Burnham, which make the article unwiki and unsightly. Please remove them. Chris 22:39, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

• • Fixed. Clean tag removed.

User:ctatkinson 01:15, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Further review urgent

I'm moving here

The 26 December 1862 Sioux uprising in Mankato, Minnesota is still today the largest mass execution in the history of the United States.

There's no reason for this irrelevant topic to be in his bio, but more importantly, if the author is similarly incoherent elsewhere in the article, there will be a great need for further editing.
--Jerzy•t 22:31, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Father of Scouting

This section is quite rambling and basically states the same thing over again. If it gets cut to where it should be, this section is going to be down to the two sentences about his descendants. --Gadget850 ( Ed) 11:44, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

I've taken a stab at revising this section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Ctatkinson/Sandbox#Father_of_Scouting

-- Ctatkinson 04:29, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

• That is better, but...
• Scouting is capitalized only when referring to the Scout Movement
• "The young Boy Scouts envisioned by Baden-Powell and Burnham in 1896 during these scouting missions was one of fighters first whose business it was to face their enemies with both valor and good cheer, and as social workers afterward."

I have no clue what this statement means.

--Gadget850 ( Ed) 13:26, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

I've revised the awkward sentence and the capitalization.

-- Ctatkinson 02:26, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

"The young Boy Scouts envisioned by Baden-Powell and Burnham in 1896"— Let me clarify; as best I understand, B-P never envisioned the creation of the Boy Scouts until after it spontaneously appeared in 1907. --Gadget850 ( Ed) 02:42, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I'll remove the capitalization. B-P knew that wars were changing and the British Army needed to adapt, so he and Burnham discussed the concept of a broad training program in woodcraft for young men. -- Ctatkinson 01:22, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA status

At the time it was nominated, this needed some work, but the work done since then by several editors makes this a very good article. For FA, I'd suggest more on his non-military work.Sumoeagle179 16:44, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wow!

Many thanks to all who contributed to making this a GA. Special thanks to WikiProject Scouting members: Rlevse for his significant contributions to the article and for guiding it through the nomination process; and Gadget850 ( Ed) for his editorial eye and updating. The article has been high on substance, meeting all of the criteria for B status or above for quite sometime, but it's only in the last month that the article's quality has seen considerable improvement. With only a bit more effort this article should be able to pass FA. -- Ctatkinson 20:59, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

OK, what suggestions are there prior to a FAC nom? Ctatkinson, did you finish all you were working on?Rlevse 21:21, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Scouting section updated. Pls review. -- Ctatkinson 14:04, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

• Death- cause?

I have background and will add. -- Ctatkinson 14:04, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

• Bibliography and External links cleanup- I will tackle that over the next week.

--Gadget850 ( Ed) 01:19, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Burnham and Baden-Powell at camporee

Frederick Russell Burnham and Michael Baden-Powell will be attending a camporee in Illinois next month. [1] --Gadget850 ( Ed) 13:21, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

To clarify, these two men are the grandsons of Burnham and B-P. Russell Adam Burnham (Burnham's great grandson) was also invited but could not attend because of a scheduling conflict - he will be competing for in the U.S. Army's NCO of the Year in Washington, DC. -- Ctatkinson 14:11, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Personal Life

I've pulled several pieces of Burnham's personal life into one section and added background on his wife. I'm going to make a few more edits and post to the article tomorrow. -- Ctatkinson 05:12, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I've moved the sandbox version into the article and its ready for review. -- Ctatkinson 13:06, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I think I like this. But portal tags go in See also, but then I think that looks silly if only portal tags are there with no see also links. I think Gadget850 has some changes to make too.Rlevse 16:00, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I've verified the facts against multiple sources and updated this section. I think we are ready to go. -- Ctatkinson 13:17, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

the first two paragraphs in Shangani patrol and the para on Roderick needs at least one ref each. I think Gadget850 still has stuff he wants to do. Nice work by Ctatkinson.Rlevse 13:21, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

The references have now been added. I also created sections on Burnham's appearance and mannerism, based almost exclusively on a merger of descriptions found in these two sources: Haggard's The Days of My Life (1926); Davis' Real Soldiers of Fortune (1906). -- Ctatkinson 02:29, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] FAC?

Ready for a FAC run now?Rlevse 10:17, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Way cool. I'm in. --Ctatkinson 10:23, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

CONGRATS to Ctatkinson his first FA! You were the key on this one. Outstanding job. Rlevse 03:10, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Many thanks to Rlevse and Gadget850 ( Ed). The teamwork on this article was outstanding. -- Ctatkinson 12:56, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Images

• Image:AfterMlimo.jpg should have {{information}}
• Image:Scouting on two contintents cover 1934.jpg needs {{non-free use rationale}}

--Gadget850 ( Ed) 21:11, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I tagged them. But don't know all the info to fill in. Ctatkinson?Rlevse 21:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I updated the info on the 1896 AfterMlimo sketch and switched to the image posted on Wikicommons (same image, but a better source). Rlevse completed the fields for the book cover image -- nice work. -- Ctatkinson 02:32, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] wheelers and other oddities

We read that he dropped between the two wheelers of the wagon. What's a "wheeler": a wheel, an axle, something else?

On my run through this article a day or so ago, I inserted at least two questions within SGML comments; somebody may wish to attend to these. -- Hoary 02:27, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I changed it to wheels. I'd already left Ctatkinson a note about the other questions because I don't know the answers.Rlevse 02:32, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] sister links and portals

I've moved the templates for the sister links and portals down towards the bottom of the article. I did this because I think that having them in the otherwise empty "See also" section isnt appropriate, and it resulted in a unattractive white space. Feel free to undo my change if you strongly disagree. John Vandenberg 03:58, 20 October 2007 (UTC)