Units
The Canadian Scouts
The Canadian Scouts, a unit of irregular
mounted infantry formed by Major Arthur L. ("Gat") Howard in
December 1900 that initially included a large number of veterans from
the first two Canadian contingents.
The Canadian Scouts, raised in South Africa in December 1900 and
January 1901, was the brainchild of
Lieutenant Arthur L. "Gat" Howard,
the machine gun officer of the Royal Canadian Dragoons. No doubt
reflecting Howard's enthusiasm for the weapon, the Canadian Scouts'
armament included six
Colt machine guns, a larger number
than normal. Howard commanded the unit with the rank of major. Most of
the other officers had served as non-commissioned officers in the second
Canadian contingent, among them the former commanders of the scout
sections of the Royal Canadian Dragoons and the Canadian Mounted Rifles.
Howard must have done a good job of
marketing the Canadian reputation as
scouts, for the British agreed to pay a premium for their service of two
shillings a day above the customary rate.
After Howard was killed in action
on 17 February 1901, at the age of
55, the unit continued as a corps of scouts, but it evolved into an
irregular mounted corps of four squadrons, a machine gun battery, a
troop of Black South African scouts, and a transport column, in all
about 475 men. By this stage, however, most of the men in its ranks
were not Canadians, but included men from throughout the British Empire.
Known for disdaining standard military discipline, the Canadian Scouts
gained a reputation as a group of hard-riding, implacable, and
death-defying soldiers. They saw plenty of action and suffered a large
number of casualties. While not officially a Canadian unit, the Scouts
never fully lost their Canadian character, and certainly did nothing to
diminish the impressive reputation earned by more conventional Canadian
units.