Barnard Eliott Bee, Sr.

Bee was an attorney and soldier from South Carolina, born there in 1787. He arrived in Texas shortly after the Battle of San Jacinto and enlisted in the Texas Army but quickly resigned to serve the Texas government. After stints as Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State, he served as the Texas agent/minister to Mexico to secure recognition for Texas. After his unsuccessful mission to Mexico, Bee replaced Richard Dunlap as the Texas minister to the United States where he helped negotiate a treaty with the US recognizing Texas independence. Sam Houston recalled Bee to Texas in 1841. Bee opposed Texas annexation and moved back to South Carolina in 1846, where he died in 1854. Bee County and Beeville are named in his honor.