The Colored Cadet at West Point: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Colored Cadet at West Point, credited to Henry Ossian Flipper, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Colored Cadet at West Point, by Henry Ossian Flipper. Read by James K. White. Henry Ossian Flipper--born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856--did not learn to read and write until just before the end of the Civil War. Once the war had ended, Flipper attended several schools showing a great aptitude for knowledge. During his freshman year at Atlanta University he applied for admittance to the United States National Military Academy at West Point. He was appointed to the academy in 1873 along with a fellow African American, John W. Williams. Cadet Williams was later dismissed for academic deficiencies. Flipper and Williams were not the first African Americans to attend West Point, however. Two others came before them: James Webster Smith in July of 1870, and Henry Alonzo Napier in 1871. Cadets Napier and Smith were eventually dismissed for academic deficiencies. In 1876, Johnson Chestnut Whittaker another African American, was admitted to the academy. But one day he was discovered beaten, bound and unconscious in his room. An investigation was conducted by a lengthy courts martial; however, this proceeding--tainted by racism--determined that Whittaker’s injuries were "self-inflicted" and that he had tied himself up. Secretary of War, Robert Todd Lincoln, later declared the court martial invalid, but this did nothing to save Cadet Whittaker's career as he was preemptively dismissed from the academy because of academic deficiencies. Henry Ossian Flipper graduated from West Point as a Second Lieutenant in June of 1877 earning his place in history as the first African American to do so. His first permanent duty assignment was to the famed 10th Calvalry Regiment. (Introduction by James K. White) *Reader's Note: The text, found at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2448, is divided into a preface and Chapters I through XVII with Chapter XVI omitted. As much as can be determined, this is a typographical error only and no text is missing from the document.

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Colored Cadet at West Point
• Author credits: Henry Ossian Flipper
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 21
• Listed recording duration: 10:32:43

Catalogue topics

• nonfiction
• military
• slavery
• black

Track guide

1. 01 - Preface & Chapter I — 21:52
2. 02 - Chapter II, Communications, Etc. — 32:51
3. 03 - Chapter III, Reporting — 42:02
4. 04 - Chapter IV, Cant Terms, etc. — 16:47
5. 05 - Chapter V, Plebe Camp — 28:36
6. 06 - Chapter VI, Studies, Etc. — 23:52
7. 07 - Chapter VII, Yearling Camp — 11:20
8. 08 - Chapter VIII, First-Class Camp — 9:36
9. 09 - Chapter IX, Our Future Heroes. The West Point Cadets' Vacation. — 6:28
10. 10 - Chapter X (part 1), Treatment — 32:28
11. 11 - Chapter X (part 2), Treatment — 34:22
12. 12 - Chapter X (part 3), Treatment — 26:26
13. 13 - Chapter XI, Resume — 39:42
14. 14 - Chapter XII, Pleasures And Privileges — 37:05
15. 15 - Chapter XIII, Furlough — 7:34
16. 16 - Chapter XIV, Incident, Humor, Etc. — 52:07
17. 17 - Chapter XV (part 1), Graduation--In The Army — 38:49
18. 18 - Chapter XV (part 2) — 29:12
19. 19 - Chapter XV (part 3) — 54:19
20. 20 - Chapter XVII (part 1) — 54:19
21. 21 - Chapter XVII (part 2) — 33:05

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.