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I wanted to share this story as we end another Black History Month:
He was a tall, slender and determined new student, walking through the doors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, that August day in 1874. He also was unwelcomed by the men forming the Academy’s famous “Long Gray Line.”
It had been less than a decade since the end of the Civil War. Slaves, now freed, had abandoned the plantations, leaving the South in poverty with little hope for a speedy recovery. But the economy was only part of the high price of the war. Thousands of men, young and old, had been lost, millions of dollars in property had gone up in smoke, and the residual hard feelings on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line remained
Henry Ossian Flipper had begun life as a slave, March 21, 1856, in Thomasville, Georgia, the eldest of six boys. His father, Festus Flipper, was owned by Ephraim G. Ponder, a wealthy plantation owner, who encouraged his slaves to excel in individual trades. Festus Flipper became an experienced shoemaker and carriage trimmer and was eventually able to buy his freedom from Mr. Ponder as well as that of his son and wife.
As a child, Henry was tutored by Charles F. Quarles, also a slave, later to be appointed U.S. Consul to Spain. Henry then attended high school classes at the American Missionary Association Schools in Georgia…and there, his work ethic and determination in the classroom were recognized by his teachers and others.
As Reconstruction replaced the War, Henry Flipper enrolled as a freshman at Atlanta University, where his academic tenacity impressed not only his professors but also Georgia’s U.S. Representative James C. Freeman, who offered the young black student an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point…if he could pass the rigorous exams for admission.
At the beginning of the summer, potential West Point cadets began examinations, lasting from 6 a.m. to 1 p. m., and from 3 to 5 p.m. each day. They were examined in engineering, mineralogy and geology, ordnance and gunnery, ethics and law, and cavalry tactics
Exactly 134 students applied. Fifty-two were selected by the competitive examinations. Henry O. Flipper from Georgia, and John W. Williams from Virginia, two black boys, were among the successful. Another African-American was already at the Academy in his second year.
Flipper scored higher on the exams than any of those leading the heartless shunning and harassment targeting him and John. For four years, white cadets, including incoming freshmen, said nothing to Henry (called “the silence”), other than calling him racist names and other degrading comments. For four years, he attended classes and lived every day alone. Fellow cadets also hazed them, assigned degrading duties and made life more difficult for the black students. Before mid-term, John Williams, the other black freshman, gave up and went home.
By August 1874, Henry Flipper was the only African-American cadet remaining at West Point. An interview in the Baltimore Sun provided details of incessant hazing, and this triggered the third, older African-American student’s hot temper enough that he was asked to leave.
By that time, fellow cadets were probably laying odds as to whether Henry Flipper, described as bright, intelligent and studious, would make it through to graduation. The hazing became more intense.
As a reporter for The Philadelphia Times in 1874, wrote: “At the Military Academy, he [Flipper] had the toughest four years' experience any cadet has ever undergone, but he had patience, good sense and determination, and he endured. Despite the antagonism of such blue-blooded abolition scions as Gen. Ben But ler's son, Bigelow's son and a host of others, Flipper held his own, and when he was required to pass the most rigid examinations, each concocted with an evident intention to "freeze him out," he braced himself and came through with success.”
Flipper was actually the seventh African American to enter West Point to that time, but as a member of the Graduating Class of 1877, he became the first of his race to graduate and earn his commission as an Army officer. Between 1870 and 1898, 12 African-Americans had entered the Academy. Only six stayed longer than one semester.
When Henry Flipper came forward to receive his diploma with a dignified bow, General Sherman clapped his hands approvingly, and nearly all the officers and visitors followed, offering hearty applause. The applause became a standing ovation by visiting dignitaries, faculty, commandant and West Point’s entire student body. He was the only cadet so greeted.
The muscular, unquestionably handsome and meticulously groomed ex-slave would be one of three black cadets during the 19th century who actually completed West Point’s demanding curriculum. His commencement ceremony on June 2, 1877, was unique.
A few weeks after his graduation and commissioning, upon receiving his first assignment, Lt. Flipper also achieved another first – as the first non-white officer to lead the ''buffalo soldiers'' of the Army’s 10th Cavalry Regiment.
Their Native American foes called these African-American regiments "buffalo soldiers,” and equated the color of their skin, their wooly hair, innate tenacity, toughness and courage with the sacred buffalo. These troops served with distinction across the American West into the late 1800s and became known for fearlessly defending settlers in West Texas and the High Plains.
Many of the buffalo soldiers had served on both sides during the Civil War and were seasoned fighters. Others were newly-freed men (and a few women, posing as men) who sought adventure and regular paychecks. By 1869, trained regiments were in the field, ready to ward off Indian raids. Most buffalo soldiers were assigned to a line of forts across Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and Texas, built to protect new settlers. These assignments were some of the Army’s most grueling…and most dangerous. Henry Flipper led regiments at Fort Sill, Fort Concho and Fort Davis before building a career as a skilled engineer. He died in 1940 at age 87.
At West Point, an award honoring Henry Flipper is presented each year at graduation, recognizing the cadet who overcame hardship in order to achieve success.
