Robert M. Coleman 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 troop 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.
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.
Participant in the Republic of Texas
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.
Houston and his siding contingent denied the allegations of drunkenness and disregard for the safety of Texas troops. The distributed copies of Coleman's pamphlet are apparently rare to find in surviving form, and may have been burned or suppressed after his death.
Father and Husband
Protector and defender against Apache and Comanche raids. The family took refuge in Coleman's Fort later known as Fort Colorado, near Austin, Texas. It is said that the Texas Rangers also made intrusions against certain tribes they considered detrimental to the Spanish and Mexican settlements.
Suspicious drowning
Suspicions of foul play in statement of drowning according to Nicol.
the Murder of his widow and Children
A 1936 Memorial stone does not rule out one surviving child Thomas Coleman, and or apparent heirs per Nicol.
Memorial Stone
The State of Texas in 1936 issued a memorial stone which reads: Site of the home of Col. Robert M. Coleman 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
Further materials
Awaiting any feedback from The Museum Library on the site of the Alamo regard Robert M. Coleman.
