COURT MARTIAL OF LT. HENRY O. FLIPPER Thi

This research paper discusses the court martial of Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper (Flipper) (1856-1940). Flipper, the first African-American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point and one of only three who did so in the 19th century, was dismissed (given a dishonorable discharge) from the Army on June 30, 1882 after President Chester Arthur confirmed a verdict of an Army Court of Honor (court martial court) at Fort Davis, Texas, which acquitted Flipper of embezzlement of Army funds but found him guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer. Flipper failed to secure a reversal of his sentence during his lifetime. He was pardoned by President Bill Clinton on February 19, 1999. Flipper's conviction was supported by some evidence; however, his dismissal from the Army was an unjustifiably harsh sentence which can only be explained as the product of racism.

Flipper was born in Georgia to enslaved black parents. Johnson speculated that he might have had some white blood inasmuch as he had "a light, coffee-colored complexion." After 1865, his father, a skilled artisan, saved enough money to pay for Flipper's private tutoring by the widow of an ex-Confederate officer. He continued his education at an American Missionary Association school in Atlanta. He was fortunate to receive an appointment to West Point by a Republican Congressman.

He graduated in 1877 50th in a class of 76 after having endured the '

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e was mystified as to Flipper's motivation to embezzle since he was neither a gambler nor an alcoholic. Flipper himself did not take the witness stand on his own behalf on the advice of his counsel. In his written statement to the Court, he said that "he was perfectly innocent in every manner, shape, or form" and that some unknown person had taken the funds. Dinges pointed out that Flipper had a possible motivation --he was "chronically in debt." Flipper had no proof to offer the Court to explain the missing funds, but in a letter to the press and subsequently he maintained that "the funds had been stolen by an officer." In his later autobiography, Flipper said that before he was arrested, "he [Shafter] and his adjutant Lieut. Wilhemi, and Lieut. Charles Nordstrom began to persecute me and lay traps for me." Flipper claimed that Nordstrom "had no education and was a brute." Much of the testimony of Wilhelmi and Nordstrom consisted of unsubstantiated speculation that Flipper had stolen the funds and was obviously motivated at least in part by their antipathy toward Flipper. Barber attacked their credibility on cross-examination with considerable success. Flipper's housekeeper and perhaps his mistress, a young African-Americ
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Approximate Word count = 2281
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)