Career
He later successfully ran for office, serving in the Illinois legislature. He was elected as judge, eventually serving on the state Appellant Court. In November 1841, he was appointed aide-de-camp to Major General John C. Bennett of the Nauvoo Legion.
On May 29, 1844, the church"s high council ordered the publication of testimony and affidavits which purported to be accounts of Higbee"s trial before the high council two years earlier.
According to the documents, Higbee had been accused of "adulterous sins" and tried on May 24, 1842. Included were statements from women claiming he had committed adultery by telling them that Joseph Smith secretly preached the practice of polygamy.
In response, Higbee was excommunicated from the church. After Smith ordered the destruction of the Expositor press, he was arrested on charges of riot and treason.
Smith was killed while awaiting trial.
In 1861, Higbee was elected to the circuit court, and he was elected to the appellate court in 1877.
