In early Texas, Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa camps and mountain lookouts were in this area. White settlement began at Camp Colorado, a U.S. 2nd Cavalry post on Jim Ned Creek, in 1857. The county was created on Feb. 1, 1858, and named for Robert M. Coleman (1799-1837), a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. In 1862, John Chisum came to the southern part of the county to raise cattle to be furnished to Confederate troops fighting the Civil War. The county was organized on Oct. 6, 1864. Courts first met at Camp Colorado, and Coleman was approved as county seat on April 28, 1876.