Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper (1856-1940), Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, 1877.

Born to enslaved parents on March 21, 1856, Henry O. Flipper would become the seventh African American to attend the US Military Academy at West Point. Though several entered the school before him, he was the first African American to make it to graduation. Flipper would go on to serve with the 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers on the western frontier, stationed at various forts out west. In 1880 he was ordered to Fort Davis, Texas where he would serve as Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Commissary of Subsistence. A rather peculiar chain of events would soon result in thousands of dollars missing from the commissary fund. In a panic, Flipper attempted to conceal the loss but would eventually be charged with embezzlement and conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman. Despite being found innocent of embezzlement, he was found guilty of misconduct and drummed out of the army. The decision to dismiss Flipper was a sign of the times as two white officers who had been found guilty of embezzlement, the most serious of the charges, were not actually dismissed for their actions. Flipper attempted to clear his name multiple times but his efforts were unsuccessful. However, he went on to have a successful professional career and maintained his innocence until his death in 1940. Amazingly, 54 years later, Flippers descendants demanded and received a review of his court martial and dismissal. A new review board determined his conviction too severe for the crime and on February 19, 1999, President Clinton posthumously pardoned 2nd Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, vindicating him of the unfounded conviction 117 years prior. Since this pardoning, West Point now honors graduating cadets with an award in Flipper's name to those who show leadership, self-discipline and perserverance in the face of unusual difficulties.