David Jordan Higgins was born September 18, 1817, at Otisfield, Oxford County, Maine. He married his first wife, Cynthia L. Weeks, at Dover, Maine, on December 20, 1843. David and Cynthia raised three children, Wilbur F. Higgins (born January 12, 1843 and died at Leavenworth, Kansas, March 10, 1881), Emma Jane Higgins (Spencer) (born January 12, 1845 or [January 16, 1846 as reported July 4, 1898]), and Ella F. Higgins Clark (born October 2, 1851 [or June, 1851, as reported July 4, 1898]).

Although forty-three years old, David J. Higgins enlisted for three years service at New Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, on May 6, 1861. He was mustered in as the Captain of Company C, 24th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment on June 3, 1861, at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio. He was 6 feet tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes, and dark hair.

At the Battle of Cheat Mountain, (West) Virginia, on September 13, 1861, Captain Higgins demonstrated some tactical ability. At the head of a reinforced company of soldiers, he emerged from Cheat Mountain Fort, attacked and drove off part of a Confederate Brigade assigned to take and hold the road from Cheat Mountain Summit to Cheat Mountain Pass, (West) Virginia.

Higgins' age began to catch up with him after the 24th O.V.I.'s transfer to Middle Tennessee. First, rheumatism struck him hard in the Spring of 1862, near Nashville. An undated medical record noted that Captain Higgins was suffering from sub-acute Rheumatism of two months standing. In September, 1862, Higgins contracted a disease of the liver and chronic Nephritis, in consquence of which he was granted leave from active field duty in the Army of the Ohio's Special Order Number 159, dated September 30, 1862. His new assignment detailed him to lighter duty as commander of Park Hospital Barracks, Louisville, Kentucky.

After the death of the 24th O.V.I.'s senior officers during the Battle of Stones River, Higgins was promoted to colonel and recalled from Louisville to command the 24th Ohio Infantry Regiment on January 14, 1863. The brigade commander, Colonel William Grose, discovered that Higgins was still physically unfit for active field duty, so Grose obtained light duty for Higgins. The Department of the Cumberland's Special Order Number 137, dated May 20, 1863, reassigned Higgins as commander of the Convalescent Camp at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A second medical certificate, filed June 2, 1863, diagnosed Colonel Higgins to be suffering from sub-acute Lumbar Myelitis, and the medical officer opined that Higgins was unfit for duty.

Still, with the shortage of experienced field officers during the Chickamauga Campaign, Higgins was recalled yet again. In September, he was again in command of the 24th O.V.I. as it marched over Lookout Mountain into Georgia. At the Battle of Chickamauga, his rheumatism again acted up to the point where he could barely move. Consequently, he turned over command of his regiment to Major Thomas McClure on the morning of September 20, 1863. When the 24th Ohio broke apart during the Army of the Cumberland's withdrawal from the battlefield on the evening of September 20, 1863, an enraged Colonel Grose confronted the problem at the brigade's campsite near Chattanooga. Grose obtained permission to dismiss Major McClure and Colonel Higgins for cowardice.

When he received this notification of his dismissal, Higgins asked each of his company commanders if they thought he was a coward. Every officer agreed that he was not a coward, but was physically unfit for service due to his rheumatism. A military court of inquiry accepted the regimental officer's signed statement that Higgins' maladies were the real reasons why he had turned over his command to McClure, and the military court reversed the act of dismissal for cowardice. However, Higgins could only find one honorable way out of the service, and he resigned his commission due to disability on October 23, 1863. Although Colonel Grose did not agree with the court's findings, he hastily endorsed Higgins' resignation. The resignation was accepted under Department of the Cumberland Special Order Number 283, dated October 23, 1863. Higgins immediately made his way home.

Returning to his Columbiana County, Ohio, home following his resignation in early November, 1863, Higgins found that the newspapers had already reported his dismissal due to cowardice. With his reputation suffering in the community due to the uncorrected newspaper reports, David J. Higgins and his family decided to move to Minnesota. They arrived at Brooklyn Center, Hennepin County, Minnesota, on or about November 20, 1863. There, David J. Higgins got a new start, and he took up his former profession as minister of the gospel.

His wife, Cynthia Weeks Higgins, died on July 12, 1876 [or June 1877, according to another affidavit July 7, 1898], at Atwater, Kandiyohi County, Minnesota. Higgins, now a widower himself, married a minister's widow, Esther Anne (Doughty) Havens, on December 25, 1877 (or November 23, 1878 as stated in July 4, 1898) at Menomonie, Dunn County, Wisconsin. Reverend Edward Doughty performed the ceremony.

Now, nearly seventy-five years old, David J. Higgins applied for, and received a pension August 7, 1890 at Brooklyn Center, Hennepin County, Minnesota. His rank was only listed as that of a captain due to his resignation. Higgins moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, by July, 1898, and took up residence at 2935 Aldrich Avenue.

Esther, his second wife, died at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on August 10, 1902. Shortly, thereafter, David Higgins moved to 915 Maple Street, Pasadena, California. By March 18, 1915, he was again working on the pension bureau's records.

David J. Higgins died February 2, 1917, at Pasadena, California, and is interred at Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena, Los Angeles County, California.

Thanks to Shiver for providing a photo of Colonel Higgins' gravesite.

Sources: "Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion," "Compiled Service Records, 24th OVI," and "24th OVI pension index."

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