How to determine if a column is the first part of an index? Is there anyway to tell with SQL if an indexed column is the first part of an index.

The closest thing looks to be information_schema.columns.  But that seems to only tell me if it's a PRI or MUL key (not if it's the only member of that index or what position its in if it were a composite key).
Use INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE to retrieve the position of columns in your key. The position of column in a key is the ORIDINAL_POSITION column of KEY_COLUMN_USAGE.

See more information from MySQL::The INFORMATION_SCHEMA KEY_COLUMN_USAGE Table