The Trials of Henry Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point

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Born in 1856 in Thomasville, Georgia, Henry Ossian Flipper was just nine years old at the end of the Civil War. His parents were part of the privileged upper class of slaves, one of few families allowed to operate an independent business under the protection of their owner. This placed Henry in an excellent position to take advantage of the new educational opportunities opening up to African Americans, culminating in his nomination to West Point by congressman J.C. Freeman in 1873 and his graduation in 1877.After graduation, Flipper served at Fort Sill in what is now Oklahoma; took part in the Indian Wars; and served at Fort Elliott in Texas, where a court-martial relating to missing commissary funds ended his Army career with a dishonorable discharge. Flipper later was an assistant to the secretary of the Interior during the Harding administration, and he died in 1940. Recent investigations into the circumstances of Flipper’s court-martial have resulted in the upgrade to honorable discharge in 1976 and a posthumous pardon signed by President Clinton in 1999. Passages from Flipper’s autobiography (published in 1878) and excerpts from contemporary military reports as well as newspaper articles contribute firsthand observations to this biography of West Point’s first black graduate.