Baden-Powell was British, but picked up the habit of wearing a Stetson campaign hat and neckerchief for the first time in 1896 in Africa during the Second Matabele War. It was during this time that Baden-Powell, already a cavalryman, was befriended by the celebrated American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who favored the campaign hat. In the African hills it was Burnham who first introduced Baden-Powell to the ways and methods of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and taught him "woodcraft" (better known today as Scoutcraft). After Baden-Powell became famous as the victor of the Siege of Mafeking in 1899, his hat became something of a trademark. In 1900, Baden-Powell was appointed to raise and command the South African Constabulary and he included the campaign hat as part of their uniform. He may have been influenced by the fact that the trade name of the hats, "Boss of the Plains", was sometimes abbreviated to B-P, Baden-Powell's own initials.