Henry Ossian Flipper (21. März 1856 26. April 1940) war ein amerikanischer Soldat, Ingenieur, ehemaliger Sklave und im Jahr 1877 der erste Afroamerikaner, der die United States Military Academy in West Point (New York) abschloss und eine Beauftragung als Leutnant in der United States Army erhielt. Er war auch Autor und schrieb über wissenschaftliche Themen und seine Lebenserfahrungen.
Nach seinem Dienstantritt wurde er einem der rein schwarzen (all-blacks) Regimente der US-Armee zugeteilt, die bis dahin von weißen Offizieren geführt worden waren. Er wurde der A-Troop unter dem Kommando von Captain Nicholas M. Nolan zugeteilt und war der erste nicht-weiße Offizier, der Buffalo Soldiers des 10th Cavalry Regiments anführte. Flipper diente während der Apache Wars und der Victorio-Kampagne mit Kompetenz und Auszeichnung. Es gab jedoch Gerüchte über angebliche Unzulänglichkeiten. Schließlich wurde er vor ein Militärgericht gestellt und aus der Armee entlassen.
Nachdem er seinen Dienst in der Armee verloren hatte, arbeitete Flipper in Mexiko und Lateinamerika als Assistent des United States Secretary of the Interior. Er zog sich 1931 nach Atlanta zurück und starb 1940 eines natürlichen Todes.
1994 beantragten seine Nachkommen beim US-Militär eine Überprüfung seines Kriegsgerichtsverfahrens und seiner Entlassung. Die Überprüfung ergab, dass die Verurteilung und Bestrafung „unangemessen hart und ungerecht“ war, und es wurde empfohlen, Flippers Entlassung in eine Entlassung wegen guter Führung umzuwandeln. Kurz darauf wurde beim United States Secretary of the Army ein Begnadigungsantrag eingereicht, der an das Justizministerium weitergeleitet wurde. Präsident Bill Clinton begnadigte Leutnant Henry O. Flipper posthum am 19. Februar 1999, 118 Jahre nach seiner Verurteilung.
Leben
BearbeitenJugend und Ausbildung
BearbeitenFlipper wurde in Thomasville, Georgia, als ältester von fünf Brüdern in Sklaverei geboren. Seine Mutter, Isabelle Flipper, und sein Vater, Festus Flipper, ein Schuhmacher und Sattler (carriage-trimmer), gehörten Ephraim G. Ponder, einem wohlhabenden Sklavenhändler.[1] Ein Bruder war Joseph Simeon Flipper.
Flipper besuchte die Clark Atlanta University in der Ära der Reconstruction. Dort wurde er als „Freshman“ (Neuling) vom Abgeordneten James C. Freeman an die Militärakademie West Point berufen, wo bereits vier weitere schwarze Kadetten ihre Ausbildung machten. Die kleine Gruppe hatte es an der Akademie schwer, weil sie von den weißen Kadetten abgelehnt wurden. Flipper war der einzige der durchhielt und 1877 wurde er der erste aus der Gruppe der den Abschluss errang. Er erhielt einen Auftrag als Second Lieutenant in der U.S. Army-Kavallerie. Er wurde zum 10th Cavalry Regiment abkommandiert,[2] einem der vier all-black Buffalo Soldier-Regimenter in der Armee und wurde der erste schwarze Offizier der reguläre Einheiten der U.S. Army kommandierte (all-black Regimenter waren bis dahin von weißen Offizieren kommandiert worden).[1]
10th Cavalry Regiment
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Im Juli 1877 meldete sich Flipper in Fort Sill für Einsätze im Indian Territory. Allerdings war das 10th Cavalry Regiment nicht in Fort Sill stationiert sondern in Fort Concho. Er wurde keiner Kavallerietruppe zugeteilt, sondern erhielt Arbeitsaufträge, darunter den Bau eines Grabens zur Entwässerung eines von Malaria befallenen Sumpfes. Er überwachte den Bau von Straßen und Telegrafenlinien. Schließlich erhielt Flipper im Oktober 1877 Befehl, sich in Fort Concho in West-Texas zu melden, und wurde der A-Truppe zugeteilt.[3] Kapitän Nicholas M. Nolan, der Kommandeur der A-Truppe, war der Offizier, der ihm das Leben als Kavallerieoffizier beibringen sollte. Nolan wurde von mehreren weißen Beamten getadelt, weil er Flipper zum Abendessen in sein Quartier beordert hatte, wo seine Tochter Kate anwesend war. Nolan verteidigte sein Vorgehen mit der Aussage, dass Flipper ein „Offizier und Gentleman“ („officer and a gentleman“) sei, genau wie jeder andere anwesende Offizier.[3][4]
Im August 1878 heiratete Captain Nolan seine zweite Frau, Anne Eleanor Dwyer, in San Antonio, Texas. Das Paar hatte ein Kind, ein Mädchen. Annes Schwester, Miss Mollie Dwyer, kam kurz nach der Verlegung der Troop A nach Fort Elliott in Texas 1879 zu der Familie.[4] Mollie Dwyer und Flipper wurden Freunde und gingen oft zusammen reiten. Nolan war der de facto Kommandeur von Fort Elliott und machte Flipper zu seinem Adjutanten. Flipper erhielt von ihm gute Bewertungen. Es entwickelten sich jedoch Gerüchte und Briefe beschuldigten Flipper wegen unangemessenen Verhaltens, da er sich als African American mit Dwyer, einer Caucasian (Weißen), traf. Damit begann eine Schmierenkampagne. Viele Monate lang führte er eine Brieffreundschaft mit Mollie.[3]
Im Herbst 1879 Federal Marshal named Norton, armed with blank warrants, began a quarrel with a county judge. Other county officials stepped in to defend the judge and Norton arrested all of them with his armed men. Norton took the county men to Fort Elliott to be placed in the guardhouse. Nolan was required by law to accept the prisoners, and Nolan apparently talked with the Wheeler County Judge. The telegraph lines then were suddenly cut and Nolan decided to act. Flipper gathered the prisoners in the middle of the night, and with two soldiers, set off for another fort in Indian Territory.[3]
Norton captured the entire party and arrested Flipper and one of his soldiers. The other soldier ran back to the fort to report what had happened. Norton then set off for Dallas, Texas. Nolan mounted a detail of men and took off in pursuit. He caught up to the party and made it clearly known that no prisoners would be shot while trying to escape because the federal marshal and his prisoners were now under military escort. A federal judge dismissed the warrants and Norton filed federal charges of "interfering with the process of the law" against the two officers. The two officers were quickly tried and found guilty. Both were fined $1,000, which was an enormous fine for its time (28.029).Vorlage:Inflation/fn Norton was satisfied, then left. The federal judge then suspended payment and dismissed the two military officers. Army relations in Wheeler County improved tremendously. Nolan had Flipper under his wing for the first part of the Apache Wars in early 1879 until he was reassigned to G Troop. Until November 1879, during his captain's four-month leave, Flipper commanded this unit by himself and received a well done.[3]Vorlage:Unreliable source?
In May 1880, Flipper and Nolan reunited during the Victorio Campaign. It was the last time the two met.[4] Throughout this period, his military career was encumbered by racism in the military, though he did have the support of some officers, such as Nolan, and many of the white civilians he encountered who were impressed by his competency. In the later part of 1880, Flipper was transferred to Fort Davis in West Texas and assigned as the post quartermaster and commissary officer.[3]Vorlage:Unreliable source?
Ende der militärischen Karriere
BearbeitenColonel William Rufus Shafter[5] assumed command at Fort Davis in March 1881. He had been the commander of the First Infantry Regiment at Fort Davis. Shafter had a reputation as harassing officers he disliked.Vorlage:Citation needed Flipper was dismissed without cause as quartermaster within days. Then Shafter "asked" Flipper to keep the quartermaster's safe in his quarters. Being "asked" by a superior officer was a de facto order and Flipper complied. In July 1881, Flipper found a shortage of over $2,000.00 (54.702).Vorlage:Inflation/fn Realizing this could be used against him by officers intent on forcing him out of the army, he attempted to hide the discrepancy, which was later discovered, and then lied about it when confronted. In August, he was arrested by Shafter for embezzling government funds. Word quickly spread about the missing money. Many felt it was a setup and soldiers and the community came up with the money to replace what was missing within four days. Shafter accepted the money, then convened a court-martial on September 17, 1881.[3]
In December 1881, the court-martial found Flipper innocent of the main charge, but another charge was added during the trial, and he was found guilty "of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman", and sentenced to be "dismissed from the service of the United States". It was more than a harsh sentence. In two prior situations involving white officers who had been found guilty of embezzlement, neither officer was dismissed nor dishonored. The letters exchanged between Mollie Dwyer (Nolan's sister-in-law) and Flipper were used against Flipper. Relationships between whites and blacks were strictly forbidden in the viewpoint of the white officers on the board. Despite appeals, and with the denial of a lighter sentence from President Chester A. Arthur, Flipper was drummed out of the army with a dismissal, the officer equivalent of a dishonorable discharge, on June 30, 1882. For the rest of his life, Flipper contested the charges and fought to regain his commission.[1][3][4]
After the military
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After his dismissal, Flipper remained in Texas, working as a civil engineer in El Paso. In 1898, he volunteered to serve in the Spanish–American War, but requests to restore his commission were ignored by Congress. Flipper spent time in Mexico where, according to folklorist J. Frank Dobie, he attempted to discover the location of the legendary lost silver mine of Tayopa. Upon returning to the United States, he served as an adviser to Senator Albert Fall on Mexican politics. When Senator Fall became Secretary of the Interior in 1921, he brought Flipper with him to Washington, D.C., to serve as his assistant.[1]
In 1923, Flipper went to work in Venezuela as an engineer in the petroleum industry. He retired to Atlanta in 1931, and died in 1940.[1] He was buried in the family plot at South-View Cemetery, but in February 1978 he was exhumed and reburied in his home town of Thomasville.[6]
Legacy
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In 1976, descendants and supporters applied to the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records on behalf of Flipper. The board, after stating it did not have the authority to overturn his court-martial conviction, concluded the conviction and punishment were "unduly harsh and unjust" and recommended that Flipper's dismissal be changed to a good conduct discharge. The Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) and the Adjutant General approved the board's findings, conclusions, and recommendations, and directed the Department of the Army to issue Flipper a Certificate of Honorable Discharge, dated June 30, 1882, in lieu of his dismissal on the same date. On October 21, 1997, a private law firm, Arnold & Porter, filed an application of pardon with the Secretary of the Army on Flipper's behalf. Seven months later, the application was forwarded by the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) to the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice with a recommendation that the pardon be approved.Vorlage:Citation needed Many pardon applications had been rejected in the past – as a matter of policy – because the intended recipients were deceased. However, President Bill Clinton pardoned Flipper on February 19, 1999.[1]Vorlage:Failed verification
After his discharge was changed, a bust of Flipper was unveiled at West Point. Since then, an annual Henry O. Flipper Award has been granted to graduating cadets at the academy who exhibit "leadership, self-discipline, and perseverance in the face of unusual difficulties."[1]
Throughout his life, Flipper was a prolific author, writing about scientific topics, the history of the Southwest, and his own experiences. In The Colored Cadet at West Point (1878) he describes his experiences at the military academy. In the posthumous Negro Frontiersman: The Western Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper (1963), he describes his life in Texas and Arizona after his discharge from the Army.[1]
See also
Bearbeiten- James Webster Smith, first black cadet at West Point
- List of African-American firsts
- List of people pardoned by Bill Clinton
- Dreyfus affair
Einzelnachweise
Bearbeiten- ↑ a b c d e f g h The Multiracial Activist. multiracial.com. The Colored Cadet at West Point. Autobiography of Lieut. Henry Ossian Flipper. Archivlink
- ↑ Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, U.S. Army 1856–1940 U.S. Army. history.army.mil. Archivlink
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Mobeetie Jail Museum: Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper. Old Mobeetie Texas Association, 2009, abgerufen am 5. September 2009 (englisch).
- ↑ a b c d John Jr, Lieutenant, U.S.A., R.Q.M. Tenth Cavalry Bigelow: „The Tenth Regiment of Cavalry“ from „The Army of the United States Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-in-Chief“. United States Army, abgerufen am 12. August 2009 (englisch).
- ↑ Shafter, William Rufus. In: The Handbook of Texas Online. Abgerufen am 5. September 2009.
- ↑ Vorlage:Cite magazine
Literatur
Bearbeiten- The Colored Cadet at West Point. Autobiography of Lieut. Henry Ossian Flipper, U.S. A., First Graduate of Color from the U.S. Military Academy. New York: Homer Lee & Co., 1878.
- Vorlage:Internet Archive author
- Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, U.S. Army 1856–1940 at the United States Army Center of Military History
- Additional information on famous presidential pardons.
- Henry O. Flipper Collection Finding Aid at the Archives Research Center of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center.
Weblinks
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- Lt. Flipper: The First Black Graduate of West Point
- Henry O. Flipper Dinner
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Flipper, Henry O.
- Henry Flipper: Groundbreaking Graduate U.S. Army
- Lt Henry O. Flipper's Quest for Justice
- Fort Concho National Historic Landmark and museum.
- Vorlage:Gutenberg author
- The Colored Cadet at West Point. Autobiography of Lieut. Henry Ossian Flipper, U. S. A., first graduate of color from the U. S. Military Academy
- Librivox author |id=2712
[[Kategorie: [[Kategorie:Geboren 1856]] [[Kategorie:Gestorben 1940]] [[Kategorie:Mann]] {{Personendaten |NAME= Flipper, Henry |ALTERNATIVNAMEN= |KURZBESCHREIBUNG= |GEBURTSDATUM= 1856 |GEBURTSORT= |STERBEDATUM= 1940 |STERBEORT= }}[[Category:19th-century American military personnel]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Spanish–American War]] <!--content says he volunteered to serve - did he actually serve militarily in this war?--> [[Category:19th-century American slaves]] [[Category:Buffalo Soldiers]] [[Category:Clark Atlanta University alumni]] [[Category:Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:People from Thomasville, Georgia]] [[Category:People who have received posthumous pardons]] [[Category:Recipients of American presidential pardons]] [[Category:United States Army officers]] [[Category:United States Army personnel who were court-martialed]] [[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]]