Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper: The First Black West Point Graduate
Wikimedia CommonsDespite enduring severe racial discrimination, Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper became the first Black graduate of West Point.
The Buffalo Soldiers were the all-Black U.S. Army regiments who served in the Western frontier after the Civil War. These Black soldiers served the U.S. diligently, scouting and preserving the country’s outermost boundaries as well as creating infrastructures for the first national parks.
The most notable member of the regiments was Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper. But before he became a decorated military officer, Flipper was born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, on March 21, 1856.
After the Civil War, Henry Ossian Flipper attended the state’s American Missionary Association Schools and was ultimately appointed to the U.S. Military Academy — colloquially known as West Point today — in 1873. He graduated four years later, becoming the first African American to graduate from the institution.
Upon his graduation, Flipper was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the all-Black Buffalo Soldier units. He became the first Black officer to command soldiers in the regular U.S. Army.
But being a Black commanding officer in the army did not shield him from racism from his fellow military men. In 1881, Flipper’s commanding officer accused him of “embezzling funds and of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.”
As a result, the rising military star was court-martialed and found guilty on these charges. On June 30, 1882, he was dismissed from the Army.
National Park Service/Harpers Ferry Center for Media Service
He was the first Black commanding officer in the regular army and led the all-Black regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers.
Flipper, ever tenacious, didn’t allow his terrible experience in the Army to prevent him from his ambitions.
Lt. Flipper went on to secure positions in various governmental and private engineering positions. His resume included working as a special agent of the Justice Department, as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior with the Alaskan Engineering Commission, and as an aide to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
He also published several writings such as his 1878 autobiography The Colored Cadet at West Point. He died in Georgia in 1940.
His descendants and supporters worked to rectify the improper charges against him that led to Flipper’s discharge. In 1999, the late veteran was pardoned on all charges by President Bill Clinton, a move that officially recognized the error of judgement — and Flipper’s nearly-forgotten military achievements.
