FRANCIS JOHN HIGGINSON
HIGGINSON, FRANCIS JOHN, naval officer, rear-admiral of the United States navy, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, July 19, 1843. He is a direct descendant of the Reverend Francis Higginson, one of the pioneer ministers of Massachusetts colony, and a son of Stephen and Agnes Cochrane Higginson. He was appointed acting midshipman in the United States naval academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, September 21, 1857, and was graduated in 1861.
Immediately after graduation he entered active naval service in the Civil war. While attached to the steam frigate Colorado, of the West Gulf blockading squadron, he was wounded at the capture and destruction of the Confederate privateer, Judith, at Pensacola, Florida. In 1862, he was signal officer and aide to Captain Theodore Bailey, of the Cayuga, at the bombardment and passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, on the Mississippi river, by the fleet under Admiral Farragut; and he participated in the action at the Chalmette batteries and in the capture of New Orleans. Afterward he was commissioned successively executive officer of the steamer Vixen, of the South Atlantic squadron; watch officer of the steam sloop Powhatan; commanded a division of boats in the naval attack on Fort Sumter; and was executive officer of the steamer Housatonic, on which he was serving when she was blown up and sunk by a Confederate torpedo boat off Charleston, South Carolina, February 17, 1865. He also took part, as executive officer of the monitor, Passaic, at the bombardment of Forts Moultrie and Sumter, in 1865, and received the warm commendation of General Gillmore, of the United States army, for efficient service in command of the picket launches operating at night inside Morris Island, between Forts Gregg and Sumter.
After the close of the war his principal commissions were the following: November, 1873, executive officer of the Franklin, taking part in the squadron evolutions at Key West, during the Virginius excitement; December, 1877, ordered to Constantinople, Turkey, to command the Despatch; in 1883, ordered to command the Monocacy,
