Imagine being the “first” to do something, a person who has chosen to tread a path no one has ever walked before. Now envision that the course you have chosen is one that will make a lot of people not only uncomfortable but will cause some to actually hate you and do anything they can to keep you from reaching your goal. Furthermore, every time you reach a milestone someone will then try to take it away from you, or make an attempt to discount what you have accomplished.
Would you take the chance? I think that most would not, and if you did you would be one of the most courageous people around. Such is the case with Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy. Born to slaves in Thomasville, Georgia in 1856, Henry Flipper lived a life of milestones.
Although he was born into bondage, he became an exemplary student, achieving high marks and advancement at a school run by the American Missionary Association. After his initial schooling he entered Atlanta University (now Atlanta-Clark University), and continued his outstanding academic record, which led him to receive an appointment to West Point in 1873. The other cadets at the Point did not make Henry’s life easy.
He faced the constant struggle of discrimination, but in his memoirs he hinted that the most difficult barrier he endured was one of being alone; as an African American man at West Point he had no true peers since his white classmates refused to socialize or interact with him on any level. Despite such obstacles, he finished his studies as an engineer and graduated in the middle of his class in 1877. Flipper spent most of his time in the army in Texas, and was no stranger to racism.
During his time with the Tenth Cavalry he encountered resistance to his authority, outright insubordination to his commands, and attempts by other officers to place him in a bad light. Through it all, he maintained a cool demeanor, one befitting an “officer and a gentleman.” Such a countenance would be sorely tested.
Flipper had become the quartermaster at Fort Davis in 1880. Colonel William R. Shafter assumed the command at Fort Davis in 1881, a development that would bode ill for Henry Flipper.
Shafter was an able military man who had made a name for himself on the frontier, but he also had a habit of mistreating any officers in his command that offended him or that he disliked. Shafter also believed that African Americans had no place being officers, thus Henry O. Flipper became an object of his derision.
He began to search for a way to force Flipper out of the military. Shafter first dismissed Flipper as quartermaster, but then made a curious request; he asked Flipper to keep the quartermaster’s safe in his quarters. Flipper, who understood the chain of command and how to be a good soldier, dutifully complied.
Such was his undoing. Upon taking possession of the safe, he discovered that more than $2,000 was missing. Where the money had gone and who was responsible has still never been determined, but at the time Henry Flipper understood the implications—such a discrepancy could be used against him to end his career.
Thus, he made the probably unwise decision to cover up the loss, and when it was eventually discovered he lied about his knowledge. That was all the ammunition Shafter needed, and he convened a court-martial in September 1881. The army charged Flipper with embezzlement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
No one could prove that Flipper had taken the money so the court acquitted him of the embezzlement charge, but it convicted him of the second count. He was summarily dismissed from the service, his career at an ignominious end. Flipper remained in Texas after his military career, using his training as a civil engineer to work on a number of projects.
He also filed appeals and worked tirelessly to have his commission restored and his name cleared. All his attempts fell on deaf ears. He eventually worked on engineering projects in Mexico and Venezuela before retiring to Atlanta in 1931.
He became a respected engineer, particularly in the petroleum industry, but he never stopped working to have his military conviction overturned. He also vehemently denied any wrong-doing until he died at the age of 84 in 1940. Had Henry Flipper received a raw deal? Did he know anything about the missing money? Some historians believe that he did, although almost all agree that he played no part in mishandling or taking the money.
Rather, some think that he was covering for another soldier. Others are convinced that he was framed for his alleged crimes from the beginning, that it was a systematic attempt to end his career. His descendants continued Flipper’s campaign to clear his name and eventually found success.
President Bill Clinton pardoned Henry Flipper in 1999, and today a bust at West Point honors the institution’s first black graduate, a symbol of integrity and perseverance. The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is an associate professor of history at SFA and the executive director of the association.
He can be contacted at [email protected] ; www.easttexashistorical.
org . If you enjoy Dr. Sosebee’s weekly columns, SFA Press has published a new book with a compilation of his material over the last ten years.
It is titled What Is It About Texas?. You can purchase the work through Texas A&M Press Consortium at tinyurl.com/SosebeeBook .
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