Fort Peña Colorado

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. Fort Peña Colorado Site. 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 Fort Peña Park Marker 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). {"selectable":false,"height":"-500","width":"-500"} 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: North American Forts - Fort Peña Colorado Texas Handbook Online - Fort Pena Colorado HMDB - Fort Pena Colorado HMDB - Marathon Marker Visited: 30 Mar 2016