Barnard Elliott Bee, Sr.

Bee's career in Texas was short and mostly diplomatic. He had served as a colonel on the staff of his brother-in-law, South Carolina governor James Hamilton Jr., before moving to Texas in 1836 and holding the Treasury, War and State posts in the Republic. In 1839 he carried Texas's case to Mexico, was turned down, and returned by way of Cuba. He was minister to the United States from April 1840 to December 1841, died in South Carolina in 1853, and is buried at Pendleton. His son Hamilton became speaker of the Texas House in 1855.

What the plaque says

Barnard Elliott Bee, Sr. Statesman, soldier and ambassador, Barnard Elliot Bee, Sr., was a significant figure during Texas' years as a republic (1836-45). He was born in South Carolina to federal judge, Thomas Bee, and Susannah (Bulline) Bee. In 1809, he married Ann Wragg Fayssoux, with whom he had five daughters and two sons. Bee studied law, but never practiced, instead serving as a Colonel on the staff of South Carolina Governor James Hamilton. Bee moved his family to Texas in 1836, joining the Republic of Texas Army, which he served for several months until ordered to examine the coast to ascertain proper sites for the erection of forts. He left the army to become the Republic of Texas' first Secretary of the Treasury. The next year, Bee became the Republic's Secretary of War and in 1839, he was appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico. As a diplomat, he sought Mexico's recognition of Texas Independence, though the proposal was rejected. Later that year, Bee became Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States; in that role, he negotiated with Daniel Webster and settled the 1843 treaty by which the U.S. recognized Texas. Bee also entered into talks with Spain, negotiating free trade between Texas and Cuba. Barnard Bee retired from public life to Brazoria. Because of his expansionist view of Texas, he returned to South Carolina after the 1845 annexation, where he lived in Pendleton until his death. One of Col. Bee's sons, Hamilton P. Bee, was instrumental in the naming of Bee County (est. 1857) after his father. Today, Barnard E. Bee, Sr.'s legacy continues to impact Texas through his diplomatic and military contributions. Both Bee County and Beeville, Texas honor him with their names. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Corpus Christi State Park — 25 mi
  A lake park in the South Texas brush country above Mathis, on a reservoir of the Nueces, with a Civilian Conservation Corps refectory and more than 200 bird species.
• Zaragoza Birthplace State Historic Site — 28 mi
  A rebuilt stone house beside La Bahía marking where Ignacio Seguín Zaragoza, the general of the Battle of Puebla and Cinco de Mayo, was born in 1829.
• Presidio La Bahía — 28 mi
  A Spanish fort on its third site since 1749, held in turn by filibusters, insurgents and Fannin's Fort Defiance, rebuilt in stone in the 1960s around a chapel that never fell.
• Fannin Memorial Monument — 28 mi
  The 1938 pink granite memorial over the common grave of Fannin's men, shot on the roads out of Goliad on Palm Sunday 1836, the grave itself found again only in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• Beeville on the Poesta — steps away
• Commercial National Bank — steps away
• The Railroad in Bee County — steps away
• First Methodist Church of Beeville — 0.2 mi