Second Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper
First Black Graduate of West Point
At age 21, Flipper had become the first black graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. His assignment in July 1877 to the Tenth U.S. Cavalry, one of two black cavalry regiments organized after the Civil War, was the realization of a personal dream.
Flipper's military career was cut short, however, when he was court-martialed for embezzlement of commissary funds, for falsifying government records, and for lying to his commander. At Fort Davis, Texas, in a trial shrouded in prejudice, Lieutenant Flipper, while not convicted of the embezzlement charge, was found guilty of being dishonest and was sentenced "to be dismissed from the service of the United States."
Early Schooling
Born into slavery at Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856, Henry’s education began when he was eight years old in the wood shop of another slave. Flipper later attended schools operated by the American Missionary Association and entered Atlanta University when it was established in 1869.
Military Career
The future cavalry officer’s military journey began in January of 1873 when he wrote to James Freeman, a newly-elected Georgia congressman, asking to be appointed to West Point.
A Youthful Henry Flipper
Freeman responded that he would recommend him if he proved "worthy and qualified." A series of letters were exchanged between the two, ultimately resulting in Freeman forwarding Flipper's nomination to the Secretary of War. Henry passed the required examinations and officially entered the Academy on July 1, 1873.
As a cadet Flipper excelled in engineering, law, French and Spanish and was ranked 50th in a class of 76 when he graduated from West Point in 1877. The young second lieutenant soon found himself stationed on the frontier at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, assigned to Troop A of the Tenth Cavalry.
Early in 1879, Flipper's troop was transferred to Fort Elliott in the Texas Panhandle. In November, the troop returned to Fort Sill, where Flipper served for a short time as acting captain of Troop G.
While at Fort Sill, Flipper was detailed as the post's engineer and was ordered to construct a new drainage system to eliminate a number of stagnant ponds blamed for causing malaria. His efforts were so successful that the ditch he engineered soon bore his name. In 1977, "Flipper's Ditch" was designated a National Historic Landmark.
In May 1880, Flipper was ordered to Fort Concho, Texas. Within the month, his troop was one of several in the field pursuing the elusive Apache leader, Victorio, and his small band of warriors who were raiding on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Lieutenant Flipper was ordered in November to Fort Davis, Texas where he was assigned the duties of Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Commissary of Subsistence. All seemed to go well for the only black officer in the Regular Army until the spring of 1881, when Colonel William R. Shafter became commander of the post. Having a reputation of being particularly hard on subordinates, he relieved Flipper of his quartermaster duties. Then Flipper discovered commissary funds missing from his trunk. Genuinely
Cadet Henry O. Flipper
afraid of the ill-tempered Shafter, Flipper tried to conceal the loss, even lying to his commander, until the money could be found.
Flipper’s efforts only resulted in him being court-martialed, and charged with "embezzlement" and "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." His trial was held in the post chapel at Fort Davis in November and December of 1881. The court found him not guilty of the embezzlement charges, but guilty of misconduct, and ordered his dismissal.
The chapel at Fort Davis where Lt. Flipper's court-martial was held.
Civilian Accomplishments
After leaving the army, Flipper went on to attain recognition and respect as a surveyor. In 1890, he opened his own civil and mining engineering office in Arizona. From 1893 to 1901, Flipper worked for the Department of Justice as a special agent for the Court of Private Land Claims. His main task was translating Spanish documents into English, but he also surveyed land grants and appeared as an expert witness in several court cases.
Flipper next took a job as resident engineer with a mining company in Mexico. Following the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, he moved to El Paso. In 1919, he served as an interpreter and translator for a Senate subcommittee on foreign relations, and in 1921, he was appointed a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior and worked with the Alaskan Engineering Commission. From 1923 to 1930, Flipper worked as a consultant for a New York-based oil company.
During the years following his dismissal from the army, Flipper maintained his innocence. He sought to clear his name through the only avenue open to him – the passage of a bill by Congress. The first attempt to restore his former army rank and status occurred in 1898. His eighth and final effort resulted in a bill being introduced into the Senate in 1924. None of the bills, however, gained enough support or interest. All died quietly in committees. Henry Flipper died in 1940 at the age of 84, never knowing that his rank would someday be restored.
Henry Flipper in 1923
Flipper, Nogales, Arizona
Clearing His Name
It was the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s and a concerted effort by historians to tell the story of all Americans that brought attention to the circumstances surrounding Flipper’s dismissal. In 1976, the U. S. Army reviewed his case and posthumously awarded Flipper an honorable discharge, dated June 30, 1882. While acknowledging that Flipper falsified reports and lied to his commanding officer, the army ruled that regardless of race, the sentence handed down in December of 1881 and upheld by the president in 1882 was too severe for the crime.
The pardoning by President Clinton in 1999 was the final act of vindication for the former second lieutenant who has become one of America’s heroes. His story not only represents a milestone in the history of African Americans, but in the history of our nation as well.
