Henry Ossian Flipper CLASS OF 1877 West Point opened to African American men in 1870, another of Reconstruction’s short-lived gains. Flipper was the first of only three black graduates before 1900. Hostility from fellow cadets and formidable academic demands made his graduation and commissioning an extraordinary achievement, described in his book, The Colored Cadet at West Point (1878). Although Flipper became the regular army’s first black officer, his brief career was controversial. He was dismissed in 1882 for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman,” but a presidential pardon in 1999 absolved him of the questionable charges that cost him an army career. Flipper prospered in civilian life, surveying and speculating in Texas and Mexican land. In 1891 he and Luisa Montoya entered into an Arizona marriage contract. Territorial law prohibited interracial marriage but allowed contract relationships. NEXT George Crook George Armstrong Custer 1839–1876 Class of 1861 Fayette Washington Roe 1850–1916 Class of 1871 Ranald Slidell Mackenzie 1840–1889 Class of 1862 Henry Ossian Flipper 1856–1940 Class of 1877 George Crook 1829–1890 Class of 1852
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