Kitchener's Fighting Scouts were formed in December 1900 to fight in the Transvaal. Commanded by the legendary frontiersman, Johan Colenbrander, Rhodes' guide into Rhodesia and one of the few men to have killed a lion with his bare hands, their reputation as ferocious opponents, hard riding and drinking toughs made them feared in the Northern Transvaal. Their clashes and fights with General Beyers and his commando were one of the epic features of the Guerilla War. No other Irregular unit had such a fine record of convoy and prisoner captures.