Wills Town was a Cherokee town founded in 1770 on Big Wills Creek and named for the half-breed chief Red-Headed Will. An important place in Cherokee Territory, it was the home of Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet; John Ross, the last chief of the Cherokees; and Catherine Brown, one of the first converts to Christianity among the Cherokees. Before and during the Revolution, Col. Alexander Campbell, a British agent, lived here. Wills Town Mission was established in 1823, and in 1837 Fort Payne was built as a fort for detaining the Cherokees.