Hamilton P. Bee

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Hamilton Prioleau Bee
July 22, 1822 – October 3, 1897
Place of birth	Charleston, South Carolina
Place of death	San Antonio, Texas
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Years of service	1862–65
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	American Civil War - Red River Campaign
Other work	Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 1855–57

Hamilton Prioleau Bee (July 22, 1822 – October 3, 1897) was an American politician in early Texas who served one term as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and later was a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War.

[edit] Early life

Bee was born on 22 July 1822 in Charleston, South Carolina, to Ann Wragg Fayssoux and Barnard E. Bee, Sr. His family moved to Texas when he was 14. At age 17, Bee served as secretary for the boundary commission which determined the United States-Republic of Texas boundaries. Sam Houston sent Bee, Joseph C. Eldridge, and Thomas S. Torrey to open negotiations with the Comanches in 1843, which eventually resulted in the Treaty of Tehuacana Creek. Bee was secretary of the Texas Senate in the First Texas Legislature in 1846.

Bee served under Benjamin McCulloch’s Company A of Col. Jack Hays' 1st Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers for a time, but then transferred to Mirabeau B. Lamar’s Texas cavalry company as a second lieutenant. Bee signed up for a second term in 1847 — this time as first lieutenant — in Lamar’s Company, which was by then a component of Col. Peter Hansborough Bell’s regiment of Texas volunteers.

Bee moved to Laredo after the war and ran for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives for the Third Texas Legislature in 1849. He served through the end of the Seventh Legislature for a total of ten years in the House. In the Sixth Legislature, Bee was decisively elected Speaker of the House with 78 votes, to 1 vote each for N. B. Charlton and Pleasant Williams Kittrell.^[1]

[edit] Civil War

In 1861, Bee was elected brigadier general of the Texas militia and appointed as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army on 4 March 1862. Bee commanded the brigade that consisted of Carl Buchel’s First, Nicholas C. Gould’s Twenty-third, Xavier Blanchard Debray’s Twenty-sixth, James B. Likin’s Thirty-fifth, Peter Cavanaugh Woods’ Thirty-sixth, and Alexander Watkins Terrell’s Texas cavalry regiments.

Bee was headquartered in Brownsville and facilitated the trade of cotton for munitions through Mexico. On 4 November 1863 he captured a Union expeditionary force under Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, which reportedly saved millions of dollars of Confederate materiel. Bee was transferred to a field command in 1864 under Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor in the Red River Campaign. In the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Bee had two different horses shot out from under him during a cavalry charge, but was only slightly wounded. One of Bee’s brigade commanders at this time was Arthur P. Bagby, Jr., who later replaced him in command. Later, despite intense criticism of his handling of his troops, Bee was given command of Thomas Green’s division in Gen. John A. Wharton’s cavalry corps in February 1865. After that time, he commanded an infantry brigade in Gen. Samuel B. Maxey’s division.

[edit] Postbellum

After the war, Bee lived in a self-imposed exile in Mexico until 1876. He returned to live in San Antonio, where he died on 3 October 1897, and is buried in the Confederate Cemetery. Bee married Mildred Tarver on 21 May 1854,^[2] and together they had six children.

He was the brother of Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr., also a Confederate Army general.

[edit] References

v • d • e Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives Crump • Brown • Branch • Crump • Bourland • Perkins • Henderson • Keenan • Dickson • Runnels • Bee • W. Taylor • Locke • M. Taylor • Buckley • Darnell • Buckley • M. Taylor • Burford • Evans • Sinclair • M. Taylor • Bryan • Bonner • Cochran • Reeves • Gibson • Foster • Pendleton • Alexander • Milner • Cochran • Smith • Dashiell • Sherrill • Prince • Neff • Seabury • Love • Kennedy • Marshall • Rayburn • Terrell • Woods • Fuller • Thomason • Thomas • Seagler • Satterwhite • Bobbitt • Barron • Minor • Stevenson • Calvert • Morse • Leonard • Daniel • Gilmer • Reed • Manford • Senterfitt • Lindsey • Carr • Turman • Tunnell • Barnes • Mutscher • Slider • Price • Daniel, Jr. • Clayton • Lewis • Laney • Craddick