Hamilton Prioleau Bee, American army officer. member Texas House of Representatives, speaker for 1 term.
Background
BEE, Hamilton Prioleau was born on July 22, 1822 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, United States. Son of Colonel Barnard E. and his wife (Faysoux) Bee. His father moved to Galveston, Texas, in 1835 and later served as secretary of state for the Republic of Texas.
Education
Private school.
Career
Hamilton Bee’s younger brother, Barnard, also became a Confederate general. The younger Bee had five sons and a daughter by his 1854 marriage to Mildred Tarver. He was a Democrat and a member of the Episcopal church.
Little is known of his early education. In 1839, he served as secretary to the commission which established the boundaries between Texas and the United States. In 1846, he became the secretary of the first Texas Senate.
Bee was subsequently a clerk to Governor Francis Lubbock and speaker of the third Texas House in the 1850s. He enlisted as a private in the Mexican War and was later promoted to first lieutenant in 1847. He enlisted in the Texas Militia in 1861 and commanded Texas coastal troops.
In March 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general and was given command of Brownsville, Texas, where he ran cotton through the Union blockade and bought munitions from Europe. In 1863, he was made a coastal commander, and the following year he commanded a cavalry division in the Red River campaign, where he participated in the battle of Mansfield. Louisiana, and was wounded at Pleasant Hill.
He also commanded a cavalry division in the Indian Territory with General Samuel B. Maxey (q. P. ) and was promoted to major general by Edmund Kirby Smith. He surrendered with the trans-Mississippi troops and was paroled in June 1865.
After the war, he lived in Mexico until 1876. He then moved to San Antonio, Texas, engaged in various businesses, retired, and died on October 2, 1897.
Religion
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Politics
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Membership
Member Texas House of Representatives, speaker for 1 term.