In 1984, I began researching the life of the first Blacks to attend the Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Henry O. Flipper of Georgia received the distinct honor of being the first Black to graduate from West Point in 1877, and Wesley A. Howard failed the exam and returned home, leaving Smith as the lone Black cadet at West Point. Smith’s name became obscured in the Black history of America because Flipper completed the courses at West Point and graduated. His endurance and tolerance carried him through the buildings and halls of West Point for four years.