In 1896 , Baden-Powell was assigned to the Matabeleland region in Southern Rhodesia ( now Zimbabwe ) as Chief of Staff to Gen. Frederick Carrington during the Second Matabele War , and it was here that he first met and began a lifelong friendship with Frederick Russell Burnham , the American born Chief of Scouts for the British .
In 1896 , during the Second Matabele War , Baden-Powell first met and became friends with the American-born British Army Chief of Scouts Frederick Russell Burnham .