Site of the Home of Col. Robert M. Coleman

The fort named in the 1968 plate stood on high ground on the north bank of the Colorado, just west of Walnut Creek. Coleman built it in the fall of 1836: two two-story blockhouses and cabins inside a high stockade, also called Fort Colorado and, officially, Fort Houston. Capt. Micah Andrews took command in January 1837 and Capt. William M. Eastland followed; the rangers there helped bring a lull in raiding through early 1838. The post was abandoned that April, and settlers stripped it for logs, lumber and hardware.

What the plaque says

Site of the Home of Col. Robert M.Coleman (1799-1837) Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence Aide-de-camp to Gen. Houston at San Jacinto Commander of a regiment of Rangers 1836-37 Here his widow Mrs. Elizabeth Coleman and son, Albert V. Coleman were killed by Indians and Thomas Coleman, aged five was captured February 18, 1839 Erected by the State of Texas 1936 [supplemental plate added 1968] Robert M. Coleman was the first "President" (title given by Mexican government) of Municipality of Mina, 1834; commandant, Fort Coleman, built 1836 for protection against Indians. A county on frontier was named for him in 1858. His homesite was about 1/2 mile to the south. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bastrop State Park — 13 mi
  The westernmost loblolly pines in the United States, cut off from the East Texas forest by a hundred miles of post oak, burned almost entirely in 2011 and growing back.
• McKinney Falls State Park — 16 mi
  Limestone falls on Onion Creek inside Austin, where people camped under a rock overhang for thousands of years and a financier of the Texas Revolution built his stone ranch house.
• George Washington Carver Museum — 16 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Cemetery — 16 mi
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.

More markers nearby

• Webberville Ebenezer Baptist Church — 2.9 mi
• Webberville — 2.9 mi
• Rural Farms and Communities Before Camp Swift — 8.8 mi
• Camp Swift — 9.0 mi