Before it was Napier, it was...the McLeish Reservation?

When the Chickasaw nation ceded their lands north of the Tennessee River to the United States in September 1816, there were a few exceptions. One of those exceptions was a square mile of land to include the "settlement and improvements" owned by John McLeish "on the north side of Buffalo creek."

The McLeish Reservation was made for good reason. John McLeish, an influential member of the Chickasaw tribe, operated a valuable iron forge on the banks of Big Buffalo River in what would become northern Lawrence County and southern Lewis County. McLeish was on the front lines, so to speak, of white e...