Overview

Barranco Colorado is a 72-page illustrated narrative focusing on the background and establishment of a Mexican military post in the days of Mexican Texas, especially a period from 1830-1832. Its location was in coastal Texas, on the lower Lavaca River about fifteen miles above the mouth. In the summer and fall of 1830, several ships arrived with soldiers under the command of Capt. Aniceto Arteaga, initially staying at the new town of Guadalupe Victoria (modern Victoria, Texas), until they selected and moved to a new site on the west bank of the Lavaca River. Similar efforts for other Texas forts were all being coordinated by General Manuel de Mier y Teran, from his headquarters in Matamoros. The new location was remote and unsettled, but was within the existing Guadalupe Colony of the empresario Martin de Leon, and just outside the boundary of Stephen F. Austin's Colony. Its purpose was to enforce immigration and customs provisions of the Law of 6-Apr-1830. The effort suffered from lack of resources from the beginning, contributing to desertions, illnesses and deaths. Ultimately, in the Spring of 1832, the detachment was removed back to Guadalupe Victoria, and then left Texas altogether later that summer. This abandonment, along with similar failures of other forts in east and southeast Texas, was an important antecedent to the Texas Revolution of 1835-1836.

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Chris Kneupper is a native of San Antonio, Texas, and is now a retired engineer living in Brazoria County, Texas. His interest in and avocation of Texas archaeology led him to be one of the charter members of the Brazosport Archaeological Society in 1980, and is a 45-year member of the Texas Archeological Society. He has served over 30 years on the board of the Cradle of Texas Conservancy, and has been an advocate for their long-running project to create a recreational replica of the 1832 ""Fortaleza de Velasco"", also sponsoring a geophysical survey to find its precise location in 2020. In retirement, he has participated with the Sons of the Republic of Texas (currently serving as President of the Stephen F. Austin chapter), and also as a Texas Master Naturalist (Cradle of Texas chapter). Beginning in 2019, he started a deep-dive research effort for old Velasco and the first Fort Velasco, to inform any replica efforts, but found there were at least four Forts Velasco, and much other forgotten history of the area at the original mouth of the Brazos River, as well as Barranco Colorado. As an advocate for these under-told stories, he often makes presentations to local groups, has a website on the subject, and now submits his efforts in book form. He also has fun by combining these interests, often by impersonating 1830-era characters in period dress, especially as Eduard Harkort, the poorly known Captain of Engineers of the Texas Revolutionary Army. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has recently appointed him as an honorary Admiral of the Texas Navy in recognition of these efforts.

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