Jane Eppinga - Henry Ossian Flipper: West Points First Black Graduate

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On February 11, 1978, Henry Ossian Flippers flag-draped casket, borne by a mule drawn wagon caisson and followed by the riderless horse, slowly wended its way to the Old Magnolia Cemetery in Thomasville, Georgia. Flipper, first Black graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, was interred with full military honors, while observers paid final tribute to a man who rose above the social injustices of his time.

Born to slavery on March 21, 1856, at Thomasville, Georgia, Flippers achievements as a frontiersman in the American West, Mexico, and Venezuela, were such that few ever achieve in a lifetime. He served as cavalry officer, surveyor, cartographer, civil and mining engineer, Spanish translator, inventor, editor, author, and special agent for the Justice Department.

When Flipper, in June of 1877, stepped forward to accept his sheepskin, he drew a heartwarming round of applause from cadets, who over the past four years had socially ostracized him. He was assigned to the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of two Black cavalry units known as the Buffalo soldiers.

His military career came to an abrupt end at Fort Davis, Texas. Colonel William Rufus Shafter relieved Flipper as quartermaster and informed him that he would relieve him as commissary agent as soon as a replacement could be found. When Flipper tried to hide the fact that he was missing commissary funds, Shafter ordered him arrested and jailed. He restricted Flipper to his quarters only after receiving orders from departmental headquarters to treat him like a white man.

Flippers friends collected over $1,000 on his behalf, and presented promissory notes for the remainder. Even though the deficit was repaid, Shafter preferred charges against him. The court-martial found Flipper innocent of embezzlement, but guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. The court sentenced him to be dismissed from the service, and on June 30, 1882, Henry O. Flipper was discharged from the army.

Humiliated, Flipper worked in an El Paso laundry until 1883, when he embarked on a career which brought him more recognition than he might ever have achieved had he remained in the military. He joined a former Confederate soldier as a surveyor for American companies holding concessions on Mexican public lands.

In 1886, Flipper opened an engineering office in the border town of Nogales, Arizona. For four months he served as the first black editor of a white newspaper, the Nogales Sunday Herald. He held memberships in the Association of Civil Engineers of Arizona, National Geographic Society, and the Southwest Society of Archaeological Institute of America.

Because of his fluency in Spanish and familiarity with Spanish and Mexican land grant and mining laws, he was hired as special agent to the Court of Private Land Claims. From 1893 to 1901 Flipper researched Mexican archives, translated thousands of Spanish documents, surveyed land grants in southern Arizona, prepared court materials and testified as an expert witness.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Flipper offered his services to the War Department, but he was ignored. After completing his work with the Court of Private Land Claims, Flipper joined the Balvanera Mining Company as its resident engineer in Mexico.

When the revolution and the political situation in Mexico deteriorated, Flipper moved to El Paso, where he served as secretary to the mining company and passed on espionage information regarding the revolution to its vice president, Senator Albert Fall of New Mexico.

Flipper continued to try to clear his military record. Senator Fall summoned him to Washington, D.C. in 1919 to translate and interpret for his subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations investigating Mexican Affairs. On March 5, 1921, Fall was appointed Secretary of the Interior and on the same date, he hired Flipper as his special assistant.

The 65-year-old Flipper prepared his own brief, seeking to be restored to grade and rank at the time of his dismissal from the army, and to be placed on the retired list. On September 9, Fall wrote an emotional letter on his behalf, to the Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. His plea was in vain. Fall retired amid the Teapot Dome scandal on March 4, 1923, and Flipper resigned effective the same date.

William F. Buckley, a friend of Fall, hired Flipper for his Pantepec Oil Company in Caracas, Venezuela. A glut of oil and the Great Depression put Flipper out of work. On July 15, 1930, he sailed home, and went to Atlanta to live with his brother, Joseph. On May 3, 1940, Flipper was found dead of a heart attack at age 84. Dr. Thomas Flanagan wrote in the Atlanta Daily World, He died unwept, unhonored, unsung.

It would be four decades before a wrong would be put right. After a lengthy review of the court martial proceedings, the Department of the Army in December of 1976, granted Henry Ossian Flipper an honorable discharge, dated June 30, 1882. In 1999, President William Clinton gave Henry Ossian Flipper a posthumous full pardon.

Many people and organizations deserve a measure of thanks for their part in the production of this book. The late Susan Peters from the Arizona Historical Society pointed out the Flipper marriage agreement in the Pima County Court records. Bruce Dinges from the Arizona Historical Society, made helpful suggestions. The late Ray McColl, who was largely responsible for the removal of the court-martial from Flippers record provided material from his personal research. The Pimera Alta Historical Society in Nogales, Arizona yielded information on Flippers life during the land grant trials. Thanks to Eduardo Parra of the Museo Historical de Mexicana de Cananea for supplying early editions of the Cananea newspapers. Both the civilian and military branches of the National Archives supplied Flipper files. B. S. McBeth found material relevant to Flippers work with the Pantepec Oil Company in Venezuela. Judy Soles of Diversified Information culled information from Texas newspapers regarding Flipper. James S. Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress provided Flipper correspondence from the Booker T. Washington papers and Patricia Andrews found research material on Henry W. Lawton. The late Carl Flipper III provided family information and photographs as did the Thomas County Historical Society in Thomasville, Georgia. Fort Davis, Texas supplied photographs and material on Flippers court-martial. Wayne Davis of the El Paso Public Library found articles on Fort Davis, Texas. Judith S. Sibley, West Point manuscript librarian produced records of Flipper and his classmates during their West Point days. The Huntington Library provided a series of letters between Flipper and Albert Fall regarding the Mexican Revolution. The University of New Mexico provided microfilm on the land grant cases. Even with this wealth of material, no book would see the light of day without a press and its people. Special thanks go to Billy Huckaby and Wild Horse Media Group for supporting the book and making it available.