Near the bubbling waters of Buzzard Roost Spring, Levi Colbert, Itawamba Minko or “Bench Chief,” built one of the many inns called stands along the Natchez Trace. Bilingual, with a Scottish father and Chickasaw mother, he took advantage of opportunities in both cultures and sustained himself as a tribal leader through his negotiating and language skills. Across several decades, he sat among the Chickasaw during treaty talks and used his knowledge of both white and Chickasaw society to protect both the Chickasaw homeland and his own interest. At the time of his death in 1834, this dogged negotiator was trying to amend an 1832 treaty to gain better terms for the Chickasaw people.
