Dateline: 02/21/99

On February 19, 1999, President Clinton gave a pardon to Henry Flipper, the first African-American to graduate of West Point, clearing the way for Flipper to receive an honorable discharge...118 years after his dismissal from the U.S. Army. Flipper's life is an interesting story. So let's continue...

Early Life

Henry Flipper was born to Festus and Isabella Flipper in Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856. Born a slave, his father purchased their freedom in 1865, and moved to Atlanta, where Festus set up a successful shoemaker business. The prosperity made it able for to send Henry and his brother Joseph to the private American Missionary Association schools. In 1869, Henry began his studies at Atlanta University.

West Point

In 1872, Henry became the fifth African-American cadet to enroll at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Despite 4 years of ostracism (mostly due to racism, but partially due to self-imposed isolation for fear of not being too forward), Flipper graduated, becoming the first African-American graduate at West Point (finishing 50 in a class of 76). He wrote a book the following year, "The Colored Cadet at West Point", detailing his troubled times at West Point.

Later that year, Flipper became the first commissioned African-American. He received his request to be assigned to the Tenth Cavalry Regiment, one of the "Buffalo Soldiers". Among his achievements as post engineer was draining unhealthy stagnant pools, when others had failed previously. This project was later known as Flipper's Ditch (named a national landmark in 1877).

Dismissal

While serving a new post as commissary at Ft. Davis, Texas, Flipper was charged by his commanding officer to have embezzled nearly $3,800 in commissary funds. Flipper was also charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer". Despite being found not guilty of the embezzling charges, he was found guilty of the second charge, and was dismissed from the army. Flipper claimed that his dismissal was due to prejudice, and spent the rest of his life trying to clear his name.

Civilian Life

Upon entering civilian life, Flipper became successful as a mining engineer and a surveyor in the Southwest United States for several companies, as well as his own interests. In 1887 he briefly owned his own civil and mining engineering office in Arizona. Due to his knowledge of special, and his expertise with Mexican land laws, he became a special agent of the Dept. of Justice in the Court of Private Land Claims from 1893-1910. The government published his translation of Spanish and Mexican Land Laws in 1895. In 1898, Flipper had his court-martial reviewed for the first time (in a bill introduced by Congressman Griffen from Wisconsin). It was denied, as well as his office to lend his immense talents in service to the military.

When his task with the Justice Department was completed in 1910, he served as an engineer for the Greene Silver Company. In his travels, he became friends with Albert Fall, who essentially ruled politics in New Mexico, and in 1919, Senator Fall had Henry Flipper hired to translate for Mexican affairs with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. When Fall was appointed Secretary of the Interior in the Harding Administration in 1921, he selected Flipper as his assistant. Fall made several attempts to the Committee on Military Affairs to have Henry reinstated, but again; to no avail. When Fall became caught up in the Teapot Dome Scandal, Flipper (who had absolutely no connection with the corruption), left to work for a Venezuelan oil company. During his seven years with that company, Flipper continued his noted work of translating mining and land law; this time for Venezuela.

Retirement

Henry Flipper retired in 1930 and lived with his brother Joseph (now a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church) in Atlanta. Henry died of a heart attack in 1940.

Although Henry Flipper's fight to clear his name did not succeed during his lifetime, the fight went on. In 1975, a teacher named Ray McColl worked with Flipper's niece, Irsle King, and researched the case. With the help of an attorney, they argued that if the embezzlement charge was thrown out in the original trial, the misconduct charge it stemmed from was also bogus. In 1976, the case was reviewed by the Army Board for Correction of Military Records, and the charges were finally reversed--95 years after the original trial. Henry Flipper finally had his honorable discharge.

On February 19, 1999, President Clinton gave a full pardon to Henry Flipper, saying,