DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Out here in Travis County, the ground remembers a time when the Texas frontier wasn't a figure of speech — it was a hard fact with sharp edges. This is the site of Fort Colorado, also known as Coleman's Fort, and it stood right here from June of 1836 to November of 1838.
The fort was established and first commanded by Colonel Robert M. Coleman. That's the name the place carried — Coleman's Fort — a rough outpost on what was then the extreme edge of Anglo-American settlement.
After Coleman, command passed to Captain Michael Andrews, and then to Captain William M. Eastland. Three commanders in two and a half years.
That tells you something about the pace of things out here. The Texas Rangers occupied this post, and the marker is plain about their purpose: to protect Anglo-American civilization from the Indian populations in this vicinity. That's the language of 1936, and it carries the weight of a particular telling of history — one where the violence ran in all directions, even if this inscription only names one.
The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936, a hundred years on from that first summer the fort drew breath. Fort Colorado didn't last long. June 1836 to November 1838 — and then it was gone, swallowed back into a landscape that was here long before it arrived and has been here ever since.
What the marker says
(Also called Coleman’s Fort) June, 1836 - November, 1838. Established and first commanded by Colonel Robert M. Coleman. Succeeded by Capt. Michael Andrews and Capt. William M. Eastland. An extreme frontier outpost occupied by Texas Rangers to protect Anglo-American civilization from savage Indians in this vicinity. Erected by the State of Texas 1936.