Jackson County Historical Commission

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.