In February 1830, seventeen white families from Georgia and Alabama illegally occupied Cherokee homes in the Beaver Dam settlement. Cherokee Chief John Ross responded by sending the mounted Light Horse Brigade to remove them. Major Ridge, David Vann, and the brigade went from house to house, forcibly evicting the intruders and burning empty Cherokee structures to discourage further settlement. The next day, retaliation led to the death of one Cherokee and the imprisonment of others. Beaver Dam became the most prominent example of active Cherokee resistance to unauthorized white settlement on Cherokee lands. After this incident, the Cherokee turned only to political solutions against such intrusions and no longer tried to remove white settlers by force.