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FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — Henry O. Flipper stoically endured hate and harassment to become the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, only to be drummed out of the Army after white officers accused him of embezzlement.

He didn't see his name cleared in his lifetime, but the Army took another step in honoring his legacy Friday with the dedication of a bust of him at the Buffalo Soldier Monument at Fort Leavenworth.

Because of rain, the ceremony was moved inside and only photographs of the bust were shown, although family members later went to view the memorial.

Carla Flipper, his great grandniece, stroked the face of the bust, sheltered by a tent from the rain. A concrete pedestal chronicles his military and civilian careers.

"I'm very proud of him and admire him for all of his perseverance and the legacy that he left for us," she said. "His work truly shows a man who was truly blessed and wanted to serve his country."

She said his courage and strength came from his parents, an inspiration generations later.

Born a slave in Thomasville, Ga., in 1856, Flipper was not the first black at West Point, but he was the first to endure four years of hardships and receive his commission. He graduated in 1877, just 12 years after the Civil War.

"Besides having a strong academic background, someone of obvious academic talents, he was a very stoic individual," historian Steve Grove said. "He didn't hit back. Flipper would just bear it."

Grove said Flipper wrote in his autobiography that he "was above that kind of behavior." Despite public ridicule and harassment from white cadets, Flipper was known to tutor whites in private to help them with their studies.

"He was an amazing individual. It was amazing how mature he was," Grove said.

Flipper served at various Southwest posts as a scout, an engineer surveyor and construction supervisor, post adjutant, acting assistant and post quartermaster and commissary officer.

At Fort Davis, Texas, in 1881, Flipper's career took a dire turn when his commander accused him of embezzling $3,792 from commissary funds. Flipper initially discovered the funds missing from his custody and concealed their disappearance from superiors, hoping the money would return.

He was court-martialed, acquitted of embezzlement but convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer, and dishonorably discharged.

He would later write in a letter to a congressman that the crime "of being a Negro was, in my case, more heinous than deceiving a commanding officer."

Flipper went on to a successful civilian career as an engineer and expert in Spanish and Mexican land law, wrote several books and worked as a special assistant to the U.S. interior secretary. He spent decades trying to clear his name, and his family continued the fight after his death in 1940.

In 1976, an Army board commuted Flipper's dismissal to a good conduct discharge, concluding that his conviction and punishment were "unduly harsh and unjust." In 1999, President Clinton granted him a full pardon.

Lt. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck, superintendent at West Point, said the academy has bestowed the Henry Flipper Award to graduates who overcome challenges for the past quarter-century.