Francis J. Higginson

Francis John Higginson (July 19, 1843 – September 12, 1931)

Naval career

Early career Higginson was appointed as an acting midshipman on September 21, 1857, and entered the United States Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1861, when he was promoted to midshipman. which was believed to be undergoing conversion for service as a Confederate privateer, and spiked a gun of a Confederate artillery battery at the Pensacola Navy Yard.

Detaching from Colorado in 1862, Higginson became signal midshipman and aide to Bailey aboard the gunboat , and was aboard Cayuga serving in that capacity as Bailey commanded a gunboat division during the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River in Louisiana on April 24, 1862. During the battle, the squadron of Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut passed Confederate Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip to break through Confederate defenses on the Mississippi and move up to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Higginson participated in action against the Confederate artillery batteries at Chalmette, Louisiana, and the capture of New Orleans.

In 1887, Higginson attended the Naval War College. On October 31, 1887, he became commandant of Naval Training Station Newport at Newport, Rhode Island, and while there received a promotion to captain on September 27, 1891. Higginson returned to sea when he took command of the protected cruiser on December 10, 1891. After relinquishing command of Atlanta, he was placed on leave awaiting orders on May 28, 1893. After 13 months on leave, he reported for duty to Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, on June 29, 1894. He became commanding officer of the monitor in February 1895, then had special duty at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, beginning in December 1895. He was captain of the yard there from June 1896 to July 1897, when he became commanding officer of the battleship in the North Atlantic Squadron. After that Massachusetts operated off Puerto Rico in support of American forces invading that island, and Higginson commanded the naval escort for the expeditionary force led by Major General Nelson A. Miles that landed at Guánica, Puerto Rico, on July 25, 1898. Just before the war ended, Higginson received a promotion to commodore on August 10, 1898.

Later life Upon his retirement, Higginson and his wife, the former Grace Glenwood Haldane (1854–1938), settled in Kingston, New York not far from Grace Higginson's home town, Cold Spring. He was a leader in Kingston's civic and social life. He also was chairman of the Sampson Memorial Committee, which unveiled the Sampson Memorial Window at the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on 16 November 1908 for Rear Admiral Sampson of Spanish–American War fame, who had died in 1902. Higginson was Commander-General of the Naval Order of the United States from 1917 to 1925.

Higginson died in Kingston on September 12, 1931.