Colonel Haviland's Clever Device

Born in 1718, William Haviland joined the British Army as an ensign in 1739, and first tasted combat in 1741 during the unsuccessful British attempt to capture Cartagena de las Indias, in what is now Colombia, during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.  Haviland later served during the (third or fourth or fifth) Jacobite Rising in 1745, and in 1752 was promoted to lieutenant colonel and commander of the 27^th Foot in 1752, the colonelcy being a sinecure held by a senior officer,.

In 1757, shortly after the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, Haviland and his regiment were transferred to North America, and took part in an unsuccessful campaign to wrest Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, from the French.  Transferred to New York, late that year he was given command of Fort Edward, on the upper Hudson, the northernmost British outpost in the colony.  Haviland commanded a column during the disastrous British attempt to take Fort Carillon [Ticonderoga], in July of 1758, and again in Jeffery Amherst's successful operation against the place the following summer, which earned him a promotion to brigadier general and command of a 10,000 strong column that moved up Lake Champlain to help capture Montreal in September of 1760, a campaign in which he demonstrated considerable logistical skill.

The following year, Haviland was transferred to the West Indies, and later commanded brigades in the capture of Martinique and of Cuba in 1762, leading to a promotion to major general.  In the years of peace following the end of the Seven Years’ War, Haviland rose to lieutenant general in 1772.  Considered rather old for active duty during the American Revolution, he commanded troops assigned to coast defense operations in England.  Promoted to full general in 1783, he died late the following year.

Haviland, who had been born into a military family, had one son, who also served, as did various grandsons, thereby maintaining the family traditions

Although a rather successful officer, Haviland’s principal claim to fame has to do with an invention rather than his battlefield expertise.  While commanding the 27^th Foot in the wilderness of northern New York during the Seven Years’ War, Haviland invented a little pocket slide-rule device that permitted an officer to quickly determine the number of men to be detached from each company of a regiment, if a draft was made against it.  The device, about three inches across, consisted of two circular ivory wheels, one rotating inside the other, with numbers etched into their faces, so that by rotating one against the other, the number of personnel of each company who had to be detached could be determined, including rank.  The reverse of the device was etched with useful information on regimental organization.

Probably the first mechanical administrative aid ever invented for officers serving in the field, Haviland’s device was found so “Suitable for Gentlemen of the Army” that variations of it continued in use until well into the nineteenth century.

The average age upon appointment of the 63 colonels was 37.  Over 20 of them were lawyers, and eight were former members of Congress.

Curiously, President Polk, a Democrat, found fellow-party members eminently more qualified for command than their political rivals the Whigs; of 52 colonels with a known political affiliation, 36 were Democrats and only 16 Whigs.  Polk would this same criterion when appointing generals, which explains why dolts like David E. Twiggs could receive promotions to brigadier general; General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, himself a Whig, would write of Twiggs, ". . . not qualified to command an army either in the presence or in the absence of the enemy."  

The "Order of the Scar"

During the early nineteenth century, European travelers in southwestern Africa recorded an interesting military ceremony among the Bechuana.

After a battle, those warriors who had killed an enemy during the fighting assembled for a nocturnal ceremony. 

In preparation for this ceremony, a low fence was erected enclosing a wide area, in the center of which a large fire was made.  As the people of the tribe assembled outside the fence, the tribal shamans and eligible warriors passed into the enclosure.  To prove eligibility, each warrior had to provide evidence of his prowess, in the form of a small piece of flesh with the skin attached, cut from the body of the slain foeman. 

Upon proof of a man's eligibility, the shaman would take a sharp spear and make a long cut on the man's leg, from the hip to the knee for each slain enemy.  The cut was then rubbed with ashes. 

Each man would then lay his trophy on the glowing coals, and after it had been properly cooked, would eat it, a ritual form of cannibalism symbolizing the passage of the slain man's courage into the body of the man who killed him.  

This done, the warriors would begin a dance that continued until dawn.

Naturally, the ceremony left the men with scars on their upper legs, and particularly noted warriors were heavily scarred.

The strong warrior tradition of the Bechuana helped them maintain their independence against the most powerful "tribe" in southern Africa during the nineteenth century, the Boers.  But by the latter part of the century, the threat from the Boers, not to mention pressure from German settlements in what is now Namibia, and the ambitions of Cecil Rhodes, prompted the tribe to reach an accommodation with the British, it passed under the protection of the Crown until 1966, when the Bechuana became a parliamentary republic as Botswana.

During the years of British control the Batswana, as the people are properly known, continued to maintain their warrior traditions, providing troops in support to imperial defense, notably during World War II.  Botswana, the only post-colonial African state with a continuous history of  democratic government, still maintains its military reputation.   Contingents from Botswana have served with distinction in a number of peace keeping missions; reportedly during the Somalia operation in the mid-1990s, Batswana troops were cited for outstanding services by the U.S. Marines.