Hamilton Bee was born on July 22, 1822, in Charleston, South Carolina. His grandfather, Thomas Bee, had been a federal judge. His father, Barnard E. Bee the elder, removed to Texas in 1835, took a leading part in the establishment of the Republic, and was its secretary of state under President Lamar. His family joined him in 1837.
Hamilton Bee was secretary of the commission for determining the boundary between the United States and Texas in 1839, and secretary of the senate of Texas in 1846. Enlisting as a private in the Mexican War, he became a lieutenant in the Texas Rangers and afterward in Bell's regiment of Texas Volunteers, seeing service under Taylor in northern Mexico. After the war he was a member of the legislature, serving a term as speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1861, he was elected brigadier-general of militia, but did not long remain satisfied with an inactive position.
The blockade was shutting off commerce through southern ports and stimulating traffic through Mexico, and Bee applied for command at Brownsville. He and pointed out that the commander on the border should be one "who speaks the language and understands the Mexican people. " He was appointed brigadier-general in the Confederate army in March 1862 and was assigned to the post he desired. His most important duties were to facilitate the importation of munitions from Europe through Mexico and the exportation of the cotton which paid for them. Military operations in his district were on a small scale. His services to the Confederacy in this administrative position were great, but he had no opportunity to acquire the military experience which he lacked, and which other volunteer generals, no better qualified than he, were slowly and painfully gaining.
Accordingly, when called into the field in command of a cavalry brigade to resist Banks's advance up the Red River in the spring of 1864, his handling of troops was severely criticized. It was alleged that the Confederate victory at Sabine Cross Roads (or Mansfield) might have been decisive if he had acted more aggressively, and Gen. Taylor censured his defense at Monett's Ferry, though Kirby Smith declared that in this engagement his "defense of the position was that of a brave and gallant soldier. " Bee continued on duty in the field, but there were no further operations of importance west of the Mississippi. In February 1865 he was assigned to command a division in Wharton's cavalry corps, and later he had a brigade in Maxey's infantry division. He surrendered along with the rest of the trans-Mississippi troops, and was paroled at Columbus, Texas, June 26, 1865, being then designated as a major-general. He had never been legally appointed to this rank, but Kirby Smith, cut off from his government as he was, assumed the right to make promotions in his army on his own authority. Bee withdrew to Mexico, but returned to Texas in 1876, and spent the rest of his life in San Antonio.
Hamilton Bee was a well-known politician and soldier of the United States Army and the Confederate States Army. He participated in the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. Bee also served as a secretary of the commission for determining the boundary between the United States and Texas in 1839, secretary of the senate of Texas in 1846 and Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives (1855–1857).
Quotations: "I am not much of a military man but was under fire at Monterey and did not run. "
Hamilton Bee was a member of the Texas House of Representatives (1849–1859).
Quotes from others about the person
Gen. J. G. Walker wrote: "His courage, honor, and integrity are universally conceded, - but I would regard it as a public calamity to know of his being assigned to an important command. "
In 1854, Hamilton Bee married Mildred Tarver of Alabama.
