Editing Young County, Texas (section)

===Explorers and settlers===
[[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] Colonel [[Diego Ortiz Parrilla]]<ref>{{Handbook of Texas | name=Ortiz Parrilla, Diego, Red River Campaign | id= poo01| author=Weddle, Robert S| retrieved=May 5, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association.</ref> travelled through the county en route to during the [[Battle of the Twin Villages|1759 Red River Campaign]]. Pedro Vial came through the region in 1789 while charting the [[Santa Fe Trail]].

The county was included in the 1841 Republic of Texas [[empresario]] [[Peters Colony]] land grant.<ref>{{cite web | title=Young County Timeline| publisher=Peters Colony Historical Society of Dallas County, Texas |url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txpchsdc/history/peters_colony.htm|access-date=May 5, 2010}}</ref> The Young County portion of the grant remained unsettled until the 1850s.

In 1851, Bvt. Brig. Gen. William G. Belknap founded the [[United States Army]] [[Fort Belknap (Texas)|Fort Belknap]].<ref>{{Handbook of Texas | name=Fort Belknap| id=qbf02| author=Neighbours, Kenneth F| retrieved=May 5, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association.</ref> The fort was surrendered to the Confederacy in 1861, and reoccupied by federal troops in 1867. John and Will Peveler<ref>{{cite web | title=Young County Timeline| publisher=Young County TxGenWeb |url= http://txgenweb6.org/txyoung/history/timeline.html|access-date=May 5, 2010}}</ref> established a ranch {{convert|2|mi|km|abbr=on}} near<!-- below? --> Fort Belknap, becoming the first settlers.