Don Higginbotham was an American historian and Dowd Professor of History and Peace, War, and Defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Education
A native of Malden, Missouri, Higginbotham attended Washington University in Saint Louis, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts In 1958, upon the completion of his dissertation on Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, Duke awarded him his Doctor of Philosophy He taught at Longwood College, the College of William and Mary, and Louisiana State University prior to joining the faculty at Chapel Hill where, for 41 years, he taught undergraduate and graduate students.
Career
A leading scholar of George Washington, he was a pioneering practitioner of the “new” military history and an expert on colonial and revolutionary America and the early national United States. He served twice (1975-1976 and 1998-1999) as visiting professor of history at the United States Military Academy. degrees. He enrolled as a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska but in 1955 followed Professor John R. Alden, his adviser, to Duke University.