|
Fort Peña Colorado (1879-1893) - A U.S. Army Fort established in 1879 southwest of present day Marathon, Brewster County, Texas. Abandoned in 1893. Also known as Camp Peña Colorado, Cantonment Peña Colorado — and similar names with the correct Spanish grammatical form 'Peña Colorada', as in the marker seen here — as well as Camp Rainbow Cliffs.
 Fort Peña Colorado Marker |
 Fort Peña Colorado Park Markers & Panels. |
|
|
History of Fort Peña Colorado
Established in August 1879 as a temporary encampment known as Camp Rainbow Cliffs in the Big Bend area of West Texas. Improved and became Camp Peña Colorado with the construction of adobe and timber built buildings.
The post was built to prevent Indian attacks on railroad construction crews and to protect trails used by settlers and travelers in the Big Bend area. The post was raided by Apaches in 1881.
With the end of hostilities in the area, the post was abandoned on 11 Feb 1893.
 Fort Peña Colorado History Panel
Fort Peña Colorado Partial Commanders List (edit list)
| Assumed
|
Relieved
|
Rank
|
Name
|
Cullum
|
Notes
|
| 1880-03-25
|
|
Captain
|
Robe, Charles F.
|
N/A
|
|
|
|
|
1st Lieutenant
|
Steele, C.L.
|
N/A
|
|
Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly.
The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy.
|
Current Status
Now a county park in Marathon, Brewster County, Texas. Hart mentions two locations, the first is a ranch headquarters just north of the county park (shown by the "G" GNIS map marker) and the second is at the county park (shown by the "F" marker).
|
|
Location: Post Road, Marathon, Brewster County, Texas.
Maps & Images
Lat: 30.15251 Long: -103.28719
- Multi Maps from ACME
- Maps from Bing
- Maps from Google
- Elevation: 3,921'
|
See Also:
Sources:
- Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 772.
- Hart, Herbert M., Tour Guide to Old Western Forts, Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder CO, 1980, ISBN 0-87108-568-2. page 164.
- USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1384154
- USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1343150
- Post returns available Mar 1880 - Feb 1893 at Ancestry.com (by Subscription)
Links:
Visited: 30 Mar 2016
|
