FORT SILL, Okla. (Feb. 18, 2016) -- History turns up in the most inconspicuous places such as a simple rock monument with a dedication to an almost forgotten West Point graduate.
The rock monument is on King Road near the Patriot Club and remembers the first black West Point graduate Henry Ossian Flipper.
The inscription is brief considering the accomplished life Flipper lived, having been born a slave, graduated West Point and served as second lieutenant here from 1878-1880.
The monument is named "Flipper's ditch" but the life he led before and after engineering that drainage ditch would be the envy of most engineers for years to come.
The young lieutenant also oversaw several mining projects, built wagon roads and installed telegraph lines while stationed here.
Flipper was born into slavery March 21, 1856, in Thomasville, Ga, where he spent his formative years. Gaining his freedom following the Civil War, Flipper attended the American Missionary Association Schools in Georgia.
He was then appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in 1873, where he graduated four years later, the first black American to do so.
Flipper was commissioned as a second lieutenant of the 10th Cavalry and his duties included scouting, as well as serving as the post engineer, surveyor and construction supervisor, post adjutant, acting assistant and post quartermaster, and commissary officer.
In 1881, while stationed at Fort Concho, Texas, he was accused of "embezzling funds and of conduct unbecoming an officer" by his commanding officer.
While he was acquitted of the embezzlement charge the conduct unbecoming stuck. In 1882, he was released from the Army as regulations required.
Returning to civilian life, Flipper worked a variety of governmental and private engineering positions.
These included civil engineer, translator, special agent of the Justice Department and special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior.
While stationed at Fort Sill, Flipper authored his first of several books, an autobiography "The Colored Cadet at West Point" published in 1878.
He described the conditions he met after hearing of the treatment of other cadets of color. "With my mind full of the horrors of the treatment of all former cadets of color, and the dread of inevitable ostracism, I approached tremblingly yet confidently,"
Fipper wrote in his book. Later, he penned his memoirs in, "Black Frontiersman and Spanish and Mexican Land Laws."
Through the remainder of his life Flipper maintained his innocence in regard to the charges brought on him while serving at Fort Concho. He died in Georgia in 1940, with the charges still lingering over him.
In 1976, some of Flipper's descendants and an additional group of supporters partitioned the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records. Board members stated they did not have the authority to overturn his court-martial conviction, but did conclude the conviction and punishment were unduly harsh and unjust. They also recommended that Flipper's dismissal be commuted to a good conduct discharge.
The assistant secretary of the Army agreed with the board directing the Department of the Army to issue an honorable discharge with the date of his original discharge, June 30, 1882. In 1999, President Bill Clinton pardoned Flipper and acknowledged the lifetime accomplishments of this African-American.
Social Sharing