Robert M. Coleman (Texan politician)
| Robert M. Coleman | |
|---|---|
| signer Texas Declaration of Independence | |
| signer Constitution of the Republic of Texas | |
| namesake Coleman County, Texas | |
| commanded a Texas Ranger division | |
|
In office 1836–1837 |
|
| namesake Coleman's Spring | |
| 1st Commanding Officer of Coleman's Fort |
|
|
In office namesake and constructor 1836 – 1836/37 |
|
| Succeeded by | Maj. William H. Smith |
| Alcalde (Mayor) of Mina (now Bastrop,TX) | |
|
In office elected 1834 – term tbd |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
said to be the same as Robert Morris Coleman b.1799 Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | July 1, 1837 (aged 38) Brazos River at Velasco, Texas, U.S. |
| Resting place | missing from accidental drowning (contested) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States Mexico as Landowner Texas United States
|
| Service/branch |
United States Army Army of the Republic of Texas |
| Years of service | U.S. Army Texian Army: 1835–36 |
| Rank | U.S. Army: Corporal Texian Army:  Corporal
|
| Battles/wars | • Texas Revolutionary War • Battle of Concepción • Battle of San Jacinto |
Robert M. Coleman (1793 - July 1, 1837) was an American Texan politician and soldier, aide-de-camp to Sam Houston; said to be his sober antithesis and the true hero of the republic. Signer of the Texas Declaration, Colonel, and a transitional founder of the Republic of Texas into the United States as a constituent state. His staid stance opposing the strategies of Sam Houston regarding defense of the Alamo, and troup placements on up through the Battle of San Jacinto caused a rift with Houston and a posturing treatise, lending suspicion to the untimely death of Coleman by drowning.
He was appointed one of the first Texas Rangers, whose outpost Coleman's Fort was later named Fort Colorado. The State Historic site marker now sits within Austin, Texas.
On February 1, 1858 he became the posthumous namesake of Coleman county, Texas and thus apparently also Coleman City, Coleman Lake, and eventually many other features, places, businesses, and identifiers in Coleman county, Texas.
Earlier writers include Noah Smithwick, a contemporary frontiersman, stationed at Coleman's Fort, having an awareness of Coleman in Smithwick's book 'Recollections of old Texas Days'.
The late Sherrianne Coleman Nicol, a possible relative or descendant, has written a detailed biography found in narrative-script form as of April 27, 2016 at Ancestry dot com which suggests that Robert M. Coleman may have ancestral heritage from the often cited proposed Mobjack Coleman lineage of colonial Virginia. Her article includes a substantial bibliography.
It is implied that his family's association with Sam Houston may have begun back in that Appalachian Virginia near Rockbridge Timber Plantation from where the Sam Houston family migrated, it being adjacent to a Coleman Mountain and Coleman Falls in southwest Amherst county and Nelson counties where some of the Mobjack Coleman lineage settled, both surnames typically attributed to Ireland.
Era
Many events followed a similar timeline to that of Sam Houston
It has yet to be determined if any images exist with Sam Houston that might include the person of his aide-de-camp Robert M. Coleman.
Coleman is not listed in the Old Three Hundred of the Stephen F. Austin contract with Spain, yet some of Robert's land references are noted within the Austin Colony. Coleman appears to have arrived in Texas as a part of the Robertson Empresario recruitment.
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Wikipedia