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On March 21, 1856, Henry Ossian Flipper, American soldier, former slave, and first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877, was born in Thomasville, Georgia (d. 1940). From the article:
"Born near Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856, Henry O. Flipper rose to prominence as the first African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877. Despite being born into slavery to Festus, a shoemaker, and Isabella Flipper, Henry was reared in a family that emphasized excellence, and he and his younger brothers all became respected members of their communities as a military officer, AME bishop (Joseph), physician (E.H.), college professor (Carl), and farmer (Festus, Jr.).
Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon completing West Point, Flipper was transferred to the l0th U.S. Cavalry Regiment where he became the highest ranking and most famous of the Buffalo Soldiers (African Americans in all-black regiments) stationed at Western military installations. Flipper’s assignments included Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Elliott, Fort Concho, Fort Davis, and Fort Quitman, all in Texas. Flipper earned distinction during the the Victorio Campaign which pitted the Apache leader Victorio against the U.S. Army in Texas and New Mexico between 1879 and 1880. There he was assigned to A Troop under the command of Captain Nicholas M. Nolan. While on that assignment he became the frirst officer of color to lead Buffalo Soldiers in battle.
Trained as an engineer, Lt. Flipper was known for his design of a drainage system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (popularly known as Flipper’s Ditch and now a national monument) which minimized malaria by removing standing water.
Flipper’s military career ended when Flipper was accused of embezzling $2,000 in government funds while serving as quartermaster at Fort Davis, Texas. Flipper was charged with taking the funds and then lying about it when confronted. He was tried and acquitted of all charges except “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” at a U.S. Army court-martial at Fort Davis on September 17, 1881. Despite appeals by Flipper’s supporters who argued that his close association with Mollie Dwyer, the sister-in-law of Captain Nolan, was the real motive behind the charges and the harsh sentence (two white officers were found guilty of embezzlement but neither was dishonarably dismissed from the Army) was racially motivated, President Chester A. Authur refused to alter the court-martial verdict. Flipper was discharged from the Army on June 30, 1882. He spent much of the rest of his life challenging the charges and attempting to clear his name.
After his dismissal from the U.S. Army, Flipper lived primarily in El Paso, Texas until 1919 where he worked as a civil mining engineer, surveyor, translator, newspaper editor, historian, and folklorist in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. His success in these areas was partly because of his fluency in Spanish. In 1921 Flipper came to Washington, D.C. as the assistant to former U.S. Senator Albert Fall of New Mexico when the Senator was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Warren G. Harding. By 1923 he was employed by Texas oilman William F. Buckley Sr. to worked as an engineer in the petroleum industry in Venezuela.
Flipper authored two autobiographies: The Colored Cadet at West Point in 1878 and Negro-Frontiersman, The Western Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper (completed in 1916), which Theodore D. Harris edited and published in 1963.
Despite his many accomplishments, Lt. Flipper is most remembered in history as a casualty of racism in the military for his court-martial trial primarily on the charge of embezzlement at Fort Davis. Flipper retired to Atlanta, Georgia in 1931 and died there on May 3, 1940 at the age of 84. Thirty-six years later, in 1976, Flipper was posthumously granted an honorable discharge by President Jimmy Carter. He received a full presidential pardon in 1999 from President Bill Clinton."
"Born near Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856, Henry O. Flipper rose to prominence as the first African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877. Despite being born into slavery to Festus, a shoemaker, and Isabella Flipper, Henry was reared in a family that emphasized excellence, and he and his younger brothers all became respected members of their communities as a military officer, AME bishop (Joseph), physician (E.H.), college professor (Carl), and farmer (Festus, Jr.).
Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon completing West Point, Flipper was transferred to the l0th U.S. Cavalry Regiment where he became the highest ranking and most famous of the Buffalo Soldiers (African Americans in all-black regiments) stationed at Western military installations. Flipper’s assignments included Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Elliott, Fort Concho, Fort Davis, and Fort Quitman, all in Texas. Flipper earned distinction during the the Victorio Campaign which pitted the Apache leader Victorio against the U.S. Army in Texas and New Mexico between 1879 and 1880. There he was assigned to A Troop under the command of Captain Nicholas M. Nolan. While on that assignment he became the frirst officer of color to lead Buffalo Soldiers in battle.
Trained as an engineer, Lt. Flipper was known for his design of a drainage system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (popularly known as Flipper’s Ditch and now a national monument) which minimized malaria by removing standing water.
Flipper’s military career ended when Flipper was accused of embezzling $2,000 in government funds while serving as quartermaster at Fort Davis, Texas. Flipper was charged with taking the funds and then lying about it when confronted. He was tried and acquitted of all charges except “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” at a U.S. Army court-martial at Fort Davis on September 17, 1881. Despite appeals by Flipper’s supporters who argued that his close association with Mollie Dwyer, the sister-in-law of Captain Nolan, was the real motive behind the charges and the harsh sentence (two white officers were found guilty of embezzlement but neither was dishonarably dismissed from the Army) was racially motivated, President Chester A. Authur refused to alter the court-martial verdict. Flipper was discharged from the Army on June 30, 1882. He spent much of the rest of his life challenging the charges and attempting to clear his name.
After his dismissal from the U.S. Army, Flipper lived primarily in El Paso, Texas until 1919 where he worked as a civil mining engineer, surveyor, translator, newspaper editor, historian, and folklorist in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. His success in these areas was partly because of his fluency in Spanish. In 1921 Flipper came to Washington, D.C. as the assistant to former U.S. Senator Albert Fall of New Mexico when the Senator was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Warren G. Harding. By 1923 he was employed by Texas oilman William F. Buckley Sr. to worked as an engineer in the petroleum industry in Venezuela.
Flipper authored two autobiographies: The Colored Cadet at West Point in 1878 and Negro-Frontiersman, The Western Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper (completed in 1916), which Theodore D. Harris edited and published in 1963.
Despite his many accomplishments, Lt. Flipper is most remembered in history as a casualty of racism in the military for his court-martial trial primarily on the charge of embezzlement at Fort Davis. Flipper retired to Atlanta, Georgia in 1931 and died there on May 3, 1940 at the age of 84. Thirty-six years later, in 1976, Flipper was posthumously granted an honorable discharge by President Jimmy Carter. He received a full presidential pardon in 1999 from President Bill Clinton."
Henry Ossian Flipper (1856-1940) • BlackPast
Posted from blackpast.orgPosted in these groups: 
American History
United States Military Academy (USMA West Point)
Racism
Court Martial
Punishment
American History United States Military Academy (USMA West Point) Racism Court Martial Punishment
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Centennial Stories: Henry O. Flipper
The first black graduate of West Point left an engineering legacy at Fort Sill. OETA-The Oklahoma Network Writer/Narrator: Billie Rodely Editor: Charles Newcomb
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that March 21 is the anniversary of the birth of American soldier, former slave and the first African American to graduate from my Alma Mater the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is USMA graduate number 2,690 and was commissioned as a cavalry officer in 1877 and was dishonorably discharged in 1882.
Since Henry O Flipper was pardoned posthumously by former President Clinton on February 19, 1999, the USMA register of graduates lists his discharge as honorable.
I am proud to recognize Henry of Flipper as a fellow graduate of USMA, West Point.
Image:
1. 1877 2LT Henry O Flipper;
2. Fort Davis, Texas 1887
3. 1877 Henry O. Flipper USMA cadet
The following has been extracted from history.army.mil/html/topics/afam/clinton_flipper.html
"Although born a slave in Georgia, he was proud to serve America: the first African American graduate of West Point; the first African American commissioned officer in the regular United States Army. He showed brilliant promise and joined the 10th Cavalry. While stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he perfected a drainage system that eliminated the stagnant water, and malaria, plaguing the fort. Still known as "Flipper's Ditch," it became a national landmark in 1977. He distinguished himself in combat on the frontier, and then was transferred to run a commissary at Fort Davis in Texas. In 1881, Lt. Flipper was accused by his commanding officer of improperly accounting for the funds entrusted to him. A later Army review suggested he had been singled out for his race, but at the time there wasn't much justice available for a young African American soldier. In December, a court-martial acquitted him of embezzlement, but convicted him of conduct unbecoming an officer. President Chester A. Arthur declined to overturn the sentence, and in June of 1882, Lt. Flipper was dishonorably discharged. His life continued. He became a civil and mining engineer out West. He worked in many capacities for the government, as special agent for the Department of Justice; as an expert on Mexico for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior. He died in 1940, at the age of 84. But even after his death, this stain of dishonor remained. One hundred and seventeen years have now elapsed since his discharge. That's a long time, even more than the span of his long life. More than half the history of the White House, indeed, of the United States itself. And too long to let an injustice lie uncorrected.
The army exonerated him in 1976, changed his discharge to honorable and reburied him with full honors. But one thing remained to be done, and now it will be. With great pleasure and humility, I now offer a full pardon to Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper of the United States Army. This good man now has completely recovered his good name. It has been a trying thing for the family to fight this long battle, to confront delays and bureaucratic indifference, but this is a day of affirmation. It teaches us that, although the wheels of justice turn slowly at times, still they turn. It teaches that time can heal old wounds and redemption comes to those who persist in a righteous cause. Most of all, it teaches us -- Lt. Flipper's family teaches us -- that we must never give up the fight to make our country live up to its highest ideals. Outside of this room Henry Flipper is not known to most Americans. All the more reason to remember him today. His remarkable life story is important to us, terribly important, as we continue to work -- on the edge of a new century and a new millennium -- on deepening the meaning of freedom at home, and working to expand democracy and freedom around the world, to give new life to the great experiment begun in 1776. This is work Henry Flipper would have been proud of. Each of you who worked so hard for this day is a living chapter in the story of Lt. Flipper. I thank you for your devotion, your courage, your persistence, your unshakable commitment. I thank you for believing, and proving, that challenges never disappear, but in the long run, freedom comes to those who persevere. "
Centennial Stories: Henry O. Flipper
The first black graduate of West Point left an engineering legacy at Fort Sill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmgmFnNhe4
FYI Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless CW5 John M. MSG Andrew White SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Michael Thorin SGT (Join to see) SGT Robert George SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan SSgt Brian Brakke Sgt Arthur Caesar
Since Henry O Flipper was pardoned posthumously by former President Clinton on February 19, 1999, the USMA register of graduates lists his discharge as honorable.
I am proud to recognize Henry of Flipper as a fellow graduate of USMA, West Point.
Image:
1. 1877 2LT Henry O Flipper;
2. Fort Davis, Texas 1887
3. 1877 Henry O. Flipper USMA cadet
The following has been extracted from history.army.mil/html/topics/afam/clinton_flipper.html
"Although born a slave in Georgia, he was proud to serve America: the first African American graduate of West Point; the first African American commissioned officer in the regular United States Army. He showed brilliant promise and joined the 10th Cavalry. While stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he perfected a drainage system that eliminated the stagnant water, and malaria, plaguing the fort. Still known as "Flipper's Ditch," it became a national landmark in 1977. He distinguished himself in combat on the frontier, and then was transferred to run a commissary at Fort Davis in Texas. In 1881, Lt. Flipper was accused by his commanding officer of improperly accounting for the funds entrusted to him. A later Army review suggested he had been singled out for his race, but at the time there wasn't much justice available for a young African American soldier. In December, a court-martial acquitted him of embezzlement, but convicted him of conduct unbecoming an officer. President Chester A. Arthur declined to overturn the sentence, and in June of 1882, Lt. Flipper was dishonorably discharged. His life continued. He became a civil and mining engineer out West. He worked in many capacities for the government, as special agent for the Department of Justice; as an expert on Mexico for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior. He died in 1940, at the age of 84. But even after his death, this stain of dishonor remained. One hundred and seventeen years have now elapsed since his discharge. That's a long time, even more than the span of his long life. More than half the history of the White House, indeed, of the United States itself. And too long to let an injustice lie uncorrected.
The army exonerated him in 1976, changed his discharge to honorable and reburied him with full honors. But one thing remained to be done, and now it will be. With great pleasure and humility, I now offer a full pardon to Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper of the United States Army. This good man now has completely recovered his good name. It has been a trying thing for the family to fight this long battle, to confront delays and bureaucratic indifference, but this is a day of affirmation. It teaches us that, although the wheels of justice turn slowly at times, still they turn. It teaches that time can heal old wounds and redemption comes to those who persist in a righteous cause. Most of all, it teaches us -- Lt. Flipper's family teaches us -- that we must never give up the fight to make our country live up to its highest ideals. Outside of this room Henry Flipper is not known to most Americans. All the more reason to remember him today. His remarkable life story is important to us, terribly important, as we continue to work -- on the edge of a new century and a new millennium -- on deepening the meaning of freedom at home, and working to expand democracy and freedom around the world, to give new life to the great experiment begun in 1776. This is work Henry Flipper would have been proud of. Each of you who worked so hard for this day is a living chapter in the story of Lt. Flipper. I thank you for your devotion, your courage, your persistence, your unshakable commitment. I thank you for believing, and proving, that challenges never disappear, but in the long run, freedom comes to those who persevere. "
Centennial Stories: Henry O. Flipper
The first black graduate of West Point left an engineering legacy at Fort Sill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmgmFnNhe4
FYI Maj William W. "Bill" Price Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless CW5 John M. MSG Andrew White SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4"SCPO Morris Ramsey SGT Michael Thorin SGT (Join to see) SGT Robert George SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SP5 Robert Ruck SPC Margaret Higgins Maj Marty Hogan SSgt Brian Brakke Sgt Arthur Caesar
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