From the expulsion of the Shawnees to the entrance of white settlers, Middle Tennessee was a hunter’s paradise with herds of buffalo, deer, and elk. The forest held bears, wolves, panthers, bobcats, foxes and other wild animals. The area also contained salt – which had formed over time into the salt licks that determined where forts were built. The big sulphur spring found within the corporate limits of Nashville probably led to the location of the city. The French were the earliest settlers. Some of the old logs from the walls of Charleville school were found on the French Lick Mound 65 years later. What was considered West Tennessee in 1812 is the region of the state now referred to as Middle Tennessee.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnsumner/early4.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_in_the_Civil_War
http://www.geocities.com/metroarchives/Nashville.html