[1] He was the son of Barnard E. Bee Sr., and Ann Wragg Fayssoux, both of whom came from prominent Charleston families of English descent.

Bee graduated from the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1845, thirty-third in his class of forty-one and assigned as a brevet second lieutenant to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment.

In 1855, Bee was promoted to captain of Company D of the Tenth Infantry and posted to Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

In 1857, Bee's company took part in the Utah War, which involved confrontation with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons.

On March 3, 1861, Bee resigned from the United States Army and returned to Charleston where he was elected lieutenant colonel of the 1st South Carolina Regulars.

[1] On June 17, 1861, Bee was appointed brigadier general of a brigade mobilized at Manassas Junction, although he was confirmed by the Confederate Senate posthumously.

Bee was wounded in the stomach by a Union artillery shell and after considerable suffering, died the next day.

As a result, it could not be determined whether his naming of Stonewall Jackson was intended as praise, a condemnation, or whether it was simply a misattributed quote.