Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
A considerable amount of gold and silver coins is to be buried in the woods East of Levi Colbert's house. In the early 1800s, Levi lived in a house
near the ferry he operated on the Tennessee River which became known as "Buzzard Roost." It is located just off the Natchez Trace Parkway, 2nd exit after
crossing the Tennessee River heading south
At the COLBERT FERRY stop, down by the edge of the River, there's a taped message that tells what it was like crossing the Tennessee River in the early 1800s and before. The river wasn't as wide as it is today. It was swift moving and a little more than a quarter mile across (about a third the distance it is now). What you'll see there today is a lake created in the mid 1930s when the Tennessee Valley Authority build Pickwick Dam, down river from this site about 25 miles to the northwest.
After the Natchez Trace became a national road in 1800, George Colbert, a powerful Chickasaw Indian Chief and a brother to Levi Colbert at Buzzard Roost Spring, operated a ferry and stand at the river. Visitors at this exhibit can see where George Colbert's stand was located and an old photograph of the stand itself. George Colbert was a clever businessman, and it is said that he once charged Andrew Jackson $75,000. to ferry the Tennessee army across the river
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Aberdeen - Miss. Nov. 11, 1881
L. C. Draper -
Dear Sir:
Yrs found me sick for a month & I can hardly write a connected account.
I came a boy in 1833 16 yrs old to the edge of the Chickasaw Nation, near Cotton Gin Port. I lived neighbor for many years to Mr. J. N. Walton, as Levi Colbert, the head chief of the Chickasaws, lived about one mile West of Cotton Gin Port, he often sent for little Joe to write his dispatches, & he was at the old Chief's a great deal.
His father moved to Cotton Gin Port about 1819, & built a mill for Levi Colbert.
The tradition is, that Tecumseh visited Levi Colbert, so as to engage the Chickasaws in hostilities against the whites. All the braves were opposed to the war & so the old Chief told him: nothing would do Tecumseh but he must send for the Chiefs that he might have a talk with them.
The old chief secreted Tecumseh in his cellar & covered his den with logs & put canes through the cracks for breathing - till he sent out runners & got the chiefs in: Then at night they carried Tecumseh a few hundred yards west to a noted large oak, where it was said he made a most eloquent speech, but effected nothing. After the council, Levi Colbert conveyed him to the Choctaws; & then he went to the Creeks & roused part of that nation. I will write you a good deal if my health permits. J.N. Walton is still alive - Post Office Aberdeen Miss. He is intelligent - write him. I take much interest in all the traditions.
Respectfully - W. B. Wilkes
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near the ferry he operated on the Tennessee River which became known as "Buzzard Roost." It is located just off the Natchez Trace Parkway, 2nd exit after
crossing the Tennessee River heading south
At the COLBERT FERRY stop, down by the edge of the River, there's a taped message that tells what it was like crossing the Tennessee River in the early 1800s and before. The river wasn't as wide as it is today. It was swift moving and a little more than a quarter mile across (about a third the distance it is now). What you'll see there today is a lake created in the mid 1930s when the Tennessee Valley Authority build Pickwick Dam, down river from this site about 25 miles to the northwest.
After the Natchez Trace became a national road in 1800, George Colbert, a powerful Chickasaw Indian Chief and a brother to Levi Colbert at Buzzard Roost Spring, operated a ferry and stand at the river. Visitors at this exhibit can see where George Colbert's stand was located and an old photograph of the stand itself. George Colbert was a clever businessman, and it is said that he once charged Andrew Jackson $75,000. to ferry the Tennessee army across the river
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Aberdeen - Miss. Nov. 11, 1881
L. C. Draper -
Dear Sir:
Yrs found me sick for a month & I can hardly write a connected account.
I came a boy in 1833 16 yrs old to the edge of the Chickasaw Nation, near Cotton Gin Port. I lived neighbor for many years to Mr. J. N. Walton, as Levi Colbert, the head chief of the Chickasaws, lived about one mile West of Cotton Gin Port, he often sent for little Joe to write his dispatches, & he was at the old Chief's a great deal.
His father moved to Cotton Gin Port about 1819, & built a mill for Levi Colbert.
The tradition is, that Tecumseh visited Levi Colbert, so as to engage the Chickasaws in hostilities against the whites. All the braves were opposed to the war & so the old Chief told him: nothing would do Tecumseh but he must send for the Chiefs that he might have a talk with them.
The old chief secreted Tecumseh in his cellar & covered his den with logs & put canes through the cracks for breathing - till he sent out runners & got the chiefs in: Then at night they carried Tecumseh a few hundred yards west to a noted large oak, where it was said he made a most eloquent speech, but effected nothing. After the council, Levi Colbert conveyed him to the Choctaws; & then he went to the Creeks & roused part of that nation. I will write you a good deal if my health permits. J.N. Walton is still alive - Post Office Aberdeen Miss. He is intelligent - write him. I take much interest in all the traditions.
Respectfully - W. B. Wilkes
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