1: Retrospect
Preface || 2: The Vigor of Life >>
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 and carriage-trimmer, was
owned by Ephraim G. Ponder, a successful and
influential slave-dealer.
In 1859 Mr. Ponder, having retired from business,
returned to Georgia from Virginia with a number of
mechanics, all slaves,and among whom was the father
of young Flipper. He established a number of
manufactories in Atlanta, then a growing inland town
of Georgia. He married about this time a beautiful,
accomplished, and wealthy lady. "Flipper," as he was
generally called,had married before this, and had
been taken back alone to his native Virginia to serve
an apprenticeship under a carriage-trimmer. This
served, Mr. Ponder joined his wife in Thomasville,
bringing with him, as stated, a number of mechanics.
All were soon ready for transportation to Atlanta
except "Flipper." As he and his wife were each the
property (?) of different persons, there was, under
the circumstances, every probability of a separation.
This, of course, would be to them most displeasing.
Accordingly an application was made to Mr. Ponder
to purchase the wife and son. This he was, he said,
unable to do. He had, at an enormous expense,
procured and fitted up a home, and his coffers were
nearly, if not quite, empty. Husband and wife then
appealed to Mr. Lucky. He, too, was averse to parting
them, but could not, at the great price asked for him,
purchase the husband. He was willing however, to sell
the wife. An agreement was finally made by which the
husband paid from his own pocket the purchase-money
of his own wife and child, this sum to be returned
to him by Mr. Ponder whenever convenient. The joy
of the wife can be conceived. It can not be expressed.
In due time all arrived at Atlanta, where Mr. Ponder
had purchased about twenty-five acres of land and had
erected thereon, at great expense, a superb mansion
for his own family, a number of substantial frame
dwellings for his slaves, and three large buildings
for manufacturing purposes.
Of sixty-five slaves nearly all of the men were
mechanics. All of them except the necessary household
servants, a gardener, and a coachman, were permitted
to hire their own time. Mr. Ponder would have
absolutely nothing to do with their business other
than to protect them. So that if any one wanted any
article of their manufacture they contracted with
the workman and paid him his own price. These bond
people were therefore virtually free. They acquired
and accumulated wealth, lived happily, and needed
but two other things to make them like other human
beings, viz., absolute freedom and education. But
"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform."
And through that very mysteriousness this people
was destined to attain to the higher enjoyment of
life. The country, trembling under the agitation
of the slave question, was steadily seeking a
condition of equilibrium which could be stable
only in the complete downfall of slavery. Unknown
to them, yet existing, the great question of the
day was gradually being solved; and in its solution
was working out the salvation of an enslaved people.
Well did that noblest of women, Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe, sing a few years after:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the
Lord;
He is tramping out the vintage where the grapes of
wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible
swift sword;
This truth is marching on.
"I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred
circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews
and damps;
I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and
flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
"I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows
of steel;
'As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace
shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with
his heel,
Since God is marching on.'
"He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never
call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his
judgment-seat;
Oh! be swift my soul to answer him! be jubilant my
feet!
Our God is marching on.
"In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across
the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you
and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men
free,
While God is marching on."
Another influence was as steadily tending to the
same end. Its object was to educate, to elevate
intellectually, and then to let the power thus
acquired act.
The mistress of this fortunate household, far from
discharging the duties and functions of her station,
left them unnoticed, and devoted her whole attention
to illegitimate pleasures. The outraged husband
appointed a guardian and returned broken-hearted to
the bosom of his own family, and devoted himself
till death to agricultural pursuits.
The nature of the marriage contract prevented the
selling of any of the property without the mutual
consent of husband and wife. No such consent was
ever asked for by either. No one was, therefore,
in that state of affairs, afraid of being sold away
from his or her relatives, although their mistress
frequently threatened so to sell them. "I'll send
you to Red River," was a common menace of hers, but
perfectly harmless, for all knew, as well as she
did, that it was impossible to carry it into
execution.
In this condition of affairs the "servants" were
even more contented than ever. They hired their
time, as usual, and paid their wages to their
mistress, whose only thought or care was to
remember when it became due, and then to receive it.
The guardian, an influential stockholder in several
railroads, and who resided in another city, made
periodical visits to inspect and do whatever was
necessary to a proper discharge of his duties.
Circumstances being highly favorable, one of the
mechanics, who had acquired the rudiments of an
education, applied to this dissolute mistress for
permission to teach the children of her "servants."
She readily consented, and, accordingly, a night-
School was opened in the very woodshop in which
he worked by day. Here young Flipper was initiated
into the first of the three mysterious R's, viz.,
"reading 'riting and 'rithmetic." Here, in 1864,
at eight years of age, his education began. And
the first book he ever studied—I dare say ever
saw—was a confederate reprint of Webster's
"Blueback Speller." His then tutor has since
graduated at Westminster College in Pennsylvania,
and is, at the time of this writing, United States
Consul at Malaga, Spain, having served in the same
capacity for four years at Port Mahon, Spain.
But alas! even this happy arrangement was destined
to be disturbed. This dissolute mistress and her
slaves, with all valuable movable property, were
compelled to flee before Sherman's victorious
arms. Macon, a city just one hundred and three
miles south-east of Atlanta, became the new home
of the Flippers. A spacious dwelling was secured
in West Macon. In a part of this was stored away
Mrs. Ponder's plate and furniture, under the
guardianship of Flipper, who with his family
occupied the rest of the house. Here all was safe.
The terrible fate of Atlanta was not extended to
Macon. The only cause of alarm was Wilson, who
approached the city from the east, and, having
thrown in a few shells, withdrew without doing
further damage or being molested. Every body was
frightened, and it was deemed advisable to transfer
Mrs. Ponder's effects to Fort Valley, a small
place farther south. However, before this could be
done, it became indisputably known that Wilson had
withdrawn.
After an uneventful stay—other than this incident
just related—of nine months in Macon, the office
of custodian was resigned, and although yet a
slave, as far as he knew, and without permission
from any one, Flipper returned to Atlanta with his
wife and two sons, Henry, the elder, and Joseph,
the younger. This was in the spring of 1865. Atlanta
was in ruins, and it appeared a dreary place indeed
to start anew on the unfinished journey of life.
Every thing was not destroyed, however. A few houses
remained. One of these was occupied. The people were
rapidly returning, and the railroads from Atlanta
were rapidly being rebuilt.
During all this time the education of the young
Flippers had been necessarily neglected. In the
early spring of 1865, the family of an ex-rebel
captain became neighbors of the Flippers, now
well to do, and were soon on the most, friendly
terms with them. With remarkable condescension
the wife of this ex-rebel offered to instruct
Henry and Joseph for a small remuneration. The
Offer was readily and gladly accepted, and the
education of the two, so long neglected, was
taken up again. This private school of only two
pupils existed but a short time. The American
Missionary Association having opened better
schools, the Flippers were, in March, 1866,
transferred to them. They attended school there
till in 1867 the famous Storrs' School was opened
under the control of the American Missionary
Association, when they went there. In 1869, the
Atlanta University having been opened under the
same auspices, they entered there. At the time of
receiving his appointment Henry was a member of
the freshman class of the collegiate department.
His class graduated there in June, 1876, just one
year before he did at West Point.
The following article from a Thomasville paper,
published in June, 1874, will give further
information concerning his early life:
"'It is not generally known that Atlanta has a negro
cadet at the United States National Military Academy
at West Point. This cadet is a mulatto boy named
Flipper. He is about twenty years old, a stoutish
fellow, weighing perhaps one hundred and fifty
pounds, and a smart, bright, intelligent boy. His
father is a shoemaker, and gave him the euphonious
name of Henry Ossian Flipper.
"'Flipper has been at the great soldier factory of
the nation for a year. He was recommended there by
our late Congressman from the Fifth District, the
Hon. J. C. Freeman. Flipper has made a right booming
student. In a class of ninety-nine he stood about
the middle, and triumphantly passed his examination,
and has risen from the fourth to the third class
without difficulty.
"'The only two colored boys at the Academy were the
famous Smith and the Atlanta Flipper. It is thought
that Smith at the last examination failed. If so,
Atlanta will have the distinguished honor of having
the sole African representative at West Point.
"'Flipper has had the privilege of eating at the
same table with the poor white trash; but Smith
and Flipper bunked together in the same room alone,
without white companions.
"'It is an astonishing fact that, socially, the
boys from the Northern and Western States will
have nothing to do with these colored brothers.
Flipper and Smith were socially ostracized. Not
even the Massachusetts boys will associate with
them. Smith has been a little rebellious, and
attempted to thrust himself on the white boys;
but the sensible Flipper accepted the situation,
and proudly refused to intrude himself on the
white boys.
"'The feeling of ostracism is so strong that a
white boy who dared to recognize a colored cadet
would be himself ostracized by the other white
cubs, even of radical extraction.'
"We copy the above from the Atlanta Herald of last
week, for the purpose of remarking that among
colored men we know of none more honorable or more
deserving than Flipper, the father of the colored
West Point student of that name. Flipper lived for
many years in Thomasville as the servant of Mr. E.
G. Ponder—was the best bootmaker we ever knew, and
his character and deportment were ever those of a
sensible, unassuming, gentlemanly white man. Flipper
possessed the confidence and respect of his master
and all who knew him. His wife, the mother of young
Flipper, was Isabella, a servant in the family of
Rev. R. H. Lucky, of Thomasville, and bore a character
equal to that of her husband. Young Flipper was
baptized in his infancy by the venerable Bishop Early.
From these antecedents we should as soon expect young
Flipper to make his mark as any other colored youth
in the country."
(From the Louisville Ledger.)
"It is just possible that some of our readers may
not know who Flipper is. For their benefit we make
haste to explain that Flipper is the solitary
colored cadet now at West Point. He is in the
third class, and stands forty-six in the class,
which numbers eighty- five members. This is a
very fair standing, and Flipper's friends declare
that he is getting along finely in his studies,
and that he is quite up to the standard of the
average West Point student. Nevertheless they
intimate that he will never graduate. Flipper, they
say, may get as far as the first class, but there
he will be 'slaughtered.'
"A correspondent of the New York Times takes issue
with this opinion. He says there are many 'old
heads' who believe Flipper will graduate with honor,
and he thinks so too. The grounds for his belief,
as he gives them, are that the officers are
gentlemen, and so are the professors; that they
believe merit should be rewarded wherever found;
and that they all speak well of Flipper, who is a
hard student, as his position in his class proves.
From this correspondent we learn that Flipper is
from Georgia; that he has a light, coffee-colored
complexion, and that he 'minds his business and
does not intrude his company upon the other cadets,'
though why this should be put down in the list of
his merits it is not easy to understand, since, if
he graduates, as this writer believes he will, he
will have the right to associate on terms of perfect
equality with the other cadets, and may in time come
to command some of them. We are afraid there is some
little muddle of inconsistency in the brain of the
Times' correspondent.
"The Chicago Tribune seems to find it difficult to
come to any conclusion concerning Flipper's chances
for graduating. It says: 'It is freely asserted that
Flipper will never be allowed to graduate; that the
prejudice of the regular army instructors against
the colored race is insurmountable, and that they
will drive away from the Academy by persecution of
some petty sort any colored boy who may obtain
admittance there. The story does not seem to have any
substantial basis; still, it possesses considerable
vitality.'
"We don't profess to understand exactly what sort
of a story that is which has 'considerable vitality'
without any substantial basis, and can only conclude
that the darkness of the subject has engendered a
little confusion in the mind of the Tribune as well
as in that of the writer of the Times. But the Tribune
acquires more confidence as it warms in the discussion,
and it assures us finally that 'there is, of course,
no doubt that some colored boys are capable of
receiving a military education; and eventually the
presence of colored officers in the regular army
must be an accepted fact.' Well, we don't know about
that 'accepted fact.' The white man is mighty uncertain,
and the nigger won't do to trust to, in view of which
truths it would be unwise to bet too high on the
'colored officers,' for some years to come at least.
"But let not Flipper wring his flippers in despair,
notwithstanding. Let him think of Smith, and take
heart of hope. Smith was another colored cadet who
was sent to West Point from South Carolina. Smith
mastered readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic, but
chemistry mastered Smith.(1) They gave him three trials,
but it was to no purpose ; so they had to change his
base and send him back to South Carolina. But what
of that? They've just made him inspector of militia
in South Carolina, with the rank of brigadier-general.
How long might he have remained in the army before
he would have become 'General Smith?' Why, even Fred
Grant's only a lieutenant-colonel. Smith evidently
has reason to congratulate himself upon being
'plucked;' and so the young gentleman from Georgia,
with the 'light, coffee-colored complexion,' if he
meets with a similar misfortune, may console himself
with the hope that to him also in his extremity will
be extended from some source a helping flipper."
__________
(1)Cadet Smith failed in Natural and Experimental
Philosophy. In Chemistry he was up to the average.
He was never appointed Inspector-General of South
Carolina. He was Commandant of Cadets in the South
Carolina Agricultural Institute at Orangeburg, S. C.,
Which position he held till his death November 29th,
1876.
Preface || 2: The Vigor of Life >>
