Alfred Thayer Mahan was born in West Point, New York to Dennis Hart Mahan (a professor at the United States Military Academy) and Mary Helena Mahan. He studied at Columbia for two years and then, transferred to the Naval Academy. Commissioned as a lieutenant in 1861, Mahan served the Union in the American Civil War as an officer and as an instructor at the Naval Academy. In 1865, he was promoted to lieutenant commander, and then to commander (1872), and captain (1885). In 1885, he was appointed lecturer in naval history and tactics at the Naval War College.This is his historical record of the Second Boer War.These editions are facsimile prints and may contain some formatting errors or lack of graphical clarity. Some images may have been replaced or removed from original manuscript