Henry Ossian Flipper (21 March 1856 - 3 May 1940) was an American soldier, former slave, and the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877, earning a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army.

This eBook edition has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Excerpt: "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."

Published in 1878, this is the autobiography of Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, the first black man to graduate from West Point Military Academy.

"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."

Senator Albert Bacon Fall, and his later recollections on race and politics in the 1930s.