Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • The Armies
The monument to Brigadier General Barnard E. Bee is on Henry Hill near the Visitor Center.
About Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr.
Barnard Bee was born on February 8, 1824 in Charleston, South Carolina. The family moved to Pendleton in 1833, where young Barnard attanded Pendleton Academy. In 1836 his parents (with his older brother Hamilton Bee, who became a Confederate Brigadier General) moved to Texas while he stayed behind in South Carolina, living with his mother’s three sisters. He left to attend the United States Military Academy in 1841, graduating with the West Point Class of 1845 where he ranked 33 out of a class of 41. After graduation he was assigned as a brevet second lieutenant to the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment. He immediately joined the Army fighting in Mexico. He was wounded at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was brevetted to First Lieutenant for gallantry. He was then breveted to Captain for gallantry at the Battle of Chapultepec.
After the war he served on garrison duty in Pascagoula, Mississippi and Fort Fillmore, New Mexico. He was promoted to full Captain of Company D, 10th United States Infantry, and moved to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. It was there he met Sophia Elizabeth Hill, the sister of another officer. They got married in 1855. In 1857 his company participated in the Utah Campaign, also known as the Mormon War. Bee commanded the Utah Volunteer Battalion with the rank of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel. At the end of the war in 1860 he was posted to Fort Laramie as commanding officer.
With the Civil War developing Bee resigned from the United States Army and returned east to Charleston. He was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st South Carolina Regular Regiment. He was appointed brigadier general on June 17, 1861 although he would not be confirmed until after his death. Bee was given command of the Third Brigade of General Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of the Shenandoah. His brigade was made up of five infantry regiments from four states: the 4th Alabama, 2nd Mississippi, 11th Mississippi, 1st Tennessee, and 6th North Carolina.
Bee at Manassas
Johnson’s army was moved from the Shenandoah Valley to Manassas on the eve of the battle, although not all of them made it in time. Bee had with him the 4th Alabama, 2nd Mississippi, Companies A and F of the 11th Mississippi, and Companies A, B, C, E, F, G, & I of the 6th North Carolina. He was ordered to reinforce the Confederate left flank on Matthews Hill, where Evans’ Brigade undersized was facing three brigades of Yankees. Bee took position at the head of the 4th Alabama and took position next to Evans, while Bartow brought two regiments of his brigade into line on Bee’s flank.
The Confederates were still badly outnumbered, suffering heavy casualties, and the line was beginning to crumble. It was at this point that Bee gave the legendary command, “Form, Form, There stands Jackson
like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians.”
Bee was mortally wounded in the stomach by an artillery shell shortly after this. His men did fall back behind Jackson’s Brigade and rallied, then joined Jackson’s attack and the fighting that eventually cleared Union troops from the field. Bee would die the next day.
About the monument
The monument is a white marble shaft inscribed with his personal information and the words he uttered at Manassas that gave “Stonewall” Jackson his name. It was erected on July 21, 1939 by the Mary Taliferro Thompson Southern Memorial Association of Washington, D.C.
Text from the front of monument
General
Barnard Elliott Bee
of South Carolina
commander, Third Brigade
Army of the Shenandoah
was killed here July 21, 1863.
Just before his death
to rally his scattered troops
he gave the command,
“Form, Form, There stands Jackson
like a stone wall.
Rally behind the Virginians.”
Presented by
The Mary Taliaferro Thompson
Southern Memorial Assn.
of Washington, D.C. July 21, 1939
Text from the rear of the monument:
Lucy Steele Clay, Chairman. Alice Boswell Morrison. Julia Neason Streater. Maude Bird Phares. Norma Hardy Britton.
Location of the monument to Brigadier General Bernard Bee
The monument is on Henry Hill about 100 yards northeast of the Visitor Center. (38°48’49.1″N 77°31’14.1″W) It is about 100 yards south of the Monument to Stonewall Jackson.