The Colored Cadet at West Point | Page 3

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Etext prepared by Tony Adam [email protected]

Henry Ossian Flipper, 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

TO The Faculty of Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga., --AND TO THE
PRESIDENT IN PARTICULAR, TO WHOSE CAREFUL MENTAL
AND MORAL TRAINING OF MYSELF IS DUE ALL MY
SUCCESS AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT, N.
Y., I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE THIS VOLUME, AS IN
SOME SORT A TOKEN OF THAT HEARTFELT GRATITUDE
WHICH I SO DEEPLY FEEL, BUT CAN SO POORLY EXPRESS.

CONTENTS.
RETROSPECT, . . . . . . . . . . 7 COMMUNICATIONS, ETC., . . . . . 17
REPORTING, . . . . . . . . . . .29 CANT TERMS, . . . . . . . . . . 49 PLEBE
CAMP, . . . . . . . . . . 57 STUDIES, ETC., . . . . . . . . .73 YEARLING
CAMP, . . . . . . . . 102 FIRST CLASS CAMP, . . . . . . .108 OUR
FUTURE HEROES, . . . . . . 114 TREATMENT, . . . . . . . . . . 117
RESUME, . . . . . . . . . . . .166 PLEASURES AND
PRIVILEGES, . . .187 FURLOUGH, . . . . . . . . . . .203 INCIDENT,
HUMOR, ETC., . . . . 207 GRADUATION--IN THE ARMY, . . . 238
SMITH AT WEST POINT, . . . . . 288
PREFACE.
THE following pages were written by request. They claim to give an
accurate and impartial narrative of my four years' life while a cadet at
West Point, as well as a general idea of the institution there. They are
almost an exact transcription of notes taken at various times during
those four years. Any inconsistencies, real or apparent, in my opinions
or in the impressions made upon me, are due to the fact that they were
made at different times at a place where the feelings of all were
constantly undergoing material change.
They do not pretend to merit. Neither are they written for the purpose
of criticising the Military Academy or those in any way connected with
it.
My "notes" have been seen and read. If I please those who requested
me to publish them I shall be content, as I have no other object in

putting them before the public.
H. O. F.
FORT SILL, INDIAN TER., 1878.

THE COLORED CADET AT WEST POINT.

CHAPTER I.
RETROSPECT.
HENRY OSSIAN FLIPPER, the eldest of five brothers, and the subject
of this narrative, was born in Thomasville, Thomas County, Georgia,
on the 21st day of March, 1856. He and his mother were the property (?)
of Rev. Reuben H. Lucky, a Methodist minister of that place. His father,
Festus Flipper, by trade a shoemaker