DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Coleman County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a long way — further back than any courthouse, further back than any fence line or wagon road. In the early days of Texas, the land that would become Coleman County was Apache country, Comanche country, Kiowa country.
They kept camps here, and they kept mountain lookouts — high places where a sharp eye could see a long way in every direction. This was a watched land. A known land.
Long before any white settlement ever broke the horizon. When that settlement did come, it came in uniform. Camp Colorado, a post of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry on Jim Ned Creek, marked the beginning of white settlement in 1857.
The county itself was created on February 1st, 1858, and it carried a name with weight to it — Coleman County, named for Robert M. Coleman, born 1799, died 1837. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
A hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. A man who helped birth a republic and didn't live long enough to see it grow old. Then the war came — the big one, the one that split the country in two — and in 1862, a man named John Chisum came down to the south part of the county to raise cattle.
Not for market in any peaceable sense. Those cattle were to be furnished to Confederate troops fighting the Civil War. The county was organized October 6th, 1864, and the courts first met right where it all started — Camp Colorado.
The county seat, though, took a little longer to settle. Coleman was approved for that honor on April 28th, 1876. Apache lookouts to cavalry posts to courthouses.
That's a lot of history for one stretch of Texas ground.
What the marker says
In early Texas had Apache, Comanche, Kiowa camps and mountain lookouts. White settlement began at Camp Colorado, U.S. 2nd Cavalry Post on Jim Ned Creek, 1857. County was created Feb. 1, 1858. Named for Robert M. Coleman (1799-1837), a signer of Texas Declaration of Independence and a hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. To south part of county, 1862, came John Chisum, to raise cattle to be furnished to Confederate troops fighting Civil War. County was organized Oct. 6, 1864. Courts first met at Camp Colorado. Coleman was approved as county seat April 28, 1876.