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.