This waymarked sign is one of two "Big Bend Snapshot" signs at the entrance to Fort Peña Park 5 miles outside of Marathon down Old Post Road.
This sign shares the history of this area as an important site along the Comanche War Trail for native Americans and later the US Military men assigned to tame this area of Texas.
"BIG BEND SNAPSHOT: History of Fort Peña Colorado
In 1860, the United States Secretary of War under President James Buchanan directed Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, commanding officer of the Department of Texas, to plan a military road connecting Fort Clark (1) and Fort Davis (2). The implementation of these plans was delayed by 19 years.
Under Colonel Benjamin Grierson, commander of the district of the Pecos, headquartered at Fort Concho (3), troops attached to the 10th Cavalry and the 25th Infantry arrived at Rainbow Cliffs (Peña Colorado (4)) in August 1879. The famous “Buffalo Soldiers,” including “Seminole Negro Indian Scouts” of the 10th Cavalry were among the elite Indian fighting units assigned here during the 14-year existence of the Post. Other units of the military were rotated through the Camp.
The mission was to protect and improve regional military communication, control a strategic water supply, and support the development of the GH&SA (Southern Pacific) Railway. The location was not fortified; its official military designation was Cantonment Peña Colorado. The abundant spring had been a major landmark on the Comanche Trail, were annual raiding parties watered their war ponies before writing south to plunder isolated villages in northern Mexico. During campaigns against Apache leaders Victorio in 1880, and Geronimo in 1885, troopers from Camp Peña Colorado patrol the remote crossings of the Rio Grande to discourage border raids.
By 1886, the Camp featured a parade ground in 6 buildings built from native stone and adobe plastered with mud, with dirt roofs. These structures included to barracks, two officers quarters, a storehouse and the granary. Grass was hauled in, and Irish born troopers, thatchers by tradition, made shade over the stacked rock horse corrals.
Completion of the railroad in February 1883, brought the material superiority a rapidly expanding United States, and soon the military necessity of Camp Peña Colorado ceased to exist. The “Post” was officially abandoned on February 11, 1893.
The “Marathon Post Park” is made possible by the generosity of the Combs family, who first donated land to Brewster County in 1935. They, in concert with local volunteers and County, have continually contributed to keeping this delightful place open to the public. Please help keep the area clean. The surrounding area for many miles is private property. Please respect fences and signage. Trespassing is treated as a criminal matter in West Texas
If in doubt, please keep out."
From the handbook of Texas Online: (
visit link)
"CAMP PEÑA COLORADO. Camp Peña Colorado, originally known as Cantonment Peña Colorado, was a post of the United States Army for almost fifteen years in the late 1800s. It was located about four miles southwest of the site of present-day Marathon in north central Brewster County. The post was built on Peña Colorada Creek near a large spring and beneath a high bluff called Peña Colorada (Spanish for "red rock," known also in English as Rainbow Cliffs), after which the creek, spring, and the army post itself were named (though the namers were not fastidious about Spanish grammatical gender).
Indians had apparently occupied the area around Peña Colorada Springs for thousands of years. In historical times the site had been a major stopping place on the Comanche Trail to Mexico. It was first occupied by United States soldiers in late August 1879, when Companies F and G, Twenty-fifth United States Infantry Regiment, moved there from Fort Stockton. The location lay on the road connecting Fort Clark and Fort Davis, was also on the prospective southern route of the transcontinental railroad, and was within practicable supporting distance of Fort Stockton to the northeast and Fort Davis to the northwest.
The establishment of Camp Peña Colorado was likely part of a larger army strategy to increase pressure on the Apaches living in the Trans-Pecos region, who were still forcefully resisting white settlement. It is probably not coincidence, either, that the outpost was founded the same month that Victorio and his Warm Springs Apaches escaped confinement on the Mescalero reservation in New Mexico and began their flight across the Southwest and Trans-Pecos.
The primary mission of the garrison at Camp Peña Colorado, as it turned out, was to provide escort through the region, perform scout duty, and pursue bandits, border raiders, horse thieves, and the like. In July 1880 the garrison was relieved by two companies of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry. In September Company K, First Infantry, assumed garrison duties. This company, by monthly reports, indicated its chief occupations as road building and escort duty; it remained at the post for four years. During this time the spartan post consisted of several crude huts made of stone and mud and included two long, narrow buildings, one to serve as enlisted men's barracks and the other as a storehouse. Other buildings included two smaller huts for officers' quarters and a stone granary. The coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1882 just to the north, however, brought material refinement in living conditions at the post with the increased availability of commodities from the East.
After July 1884 the garrison was principally composed of units of the Tenth United States Cavalry. Among the Tenth's famous "buffalo soldiers" who served at Camp Peña Colorado was Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the army's only black officer at the time. The cavalry was needed for scouting missions and inspection of the Mexican border for Apaches and bandits. The Third Cavalry replaced the Tenth in the summer of 1885, when Geronimo and his band were causing trouble in Arizona and New Mexico. Units of the Third Cavalry made up the garrison until relieved by a temporary detachment of the Eighteenth Infantry.
Camp Peña Colorado was finally abandoned in late January 1893. By that time the settling of the country around the post was well along, and the need for United States Army troops in the Big Bend had shifted closer to the border. The site of the camp is located on Post Ranch, part of the Combs Cattle Company. The company's founder, David St. Clair Combs, early trail driver and prominent Texas rancher, donated the land around Peña Colorada Springs for a park in 1935. A historical marker was erected the next year on the location of the former outpost. The park is still enjoyed by residents of the area, among whom the spot is commonly known simply as the Post."