Did President Bill Clinton in 1999 grant a pardon to Henry O. Flipper?

President Clinton granted the pardon to Henry O. Flipper, who graduated from West Point in 1877. He received a court-martial in 1881 on thievery charges that appeared to be trumped up. He was drummed out of the Army the following year.

As a young second lieutenant, Mr. Flipper was accused of embezzling some $2,500 in commissary money while being stationed in Texas. He was acquitted of that charge, but he was found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer. He was charged with lying to investigators, and he was given a dishonorable discharge in 1882.

Born a slave in 1856, Henry O. Flipper entered West Point when he was 17. Most of his classmates were hostile to him, but he lived with their actions. When he graduated 50th in a class of 76 in 1877, he became the first black person to be commissioned an officer in the United States Army.