The Lost Colony of Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island, Map in 1862-1865

Roanoke Island was the site of the 16th-century Roanoke Colony, the first English colony in the New World of America. It was located in what was then called Virginia (current day North Carolina), and was named in honor of England's ruling monarch of the day, “Virgin Queen”, Elizabeth I. There would be two groups of colonists who tried to establish a permanent settlement there, and both failed. The second of which, resulted in quite the “mystery” for the English, and to some extent the world.

The first attempt was in 1585, but Sir Francis Drake stopped by Roanoke after attacking the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Florida and the entire Roanoke population decided to abandon the place and return with Drake to England, reportedly because they were low on supplies. Then, in 1587, the English attempted to settle Roanoke Island a second time with 115 men, women, and children; it to was destined to be unsuccessful.

John White, who was father of colonist Mrs. Eleanor Dare, and grandfather to Miss Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, left the colony to return to England for much needed supplies. He was expected to return to Roanoke Island within three (3) months, but upon his return to England, he found the English and Spanish at war, and all ships (his included) were confiscated by the government for use in the war effort. White's return to Roanoke Island was therefore delayed until 1590 (3 years later not 3 months), but when he retured all of the people at Roanoke had ‘vanished’.

The one big clue White found was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a nearby tree. “CROATOAN” it turns out, was the name of an island about 50 miles to the south (modern-day Hatteras Island), where a friendly native tribe was known to reside. The Roanoke Colonists may have tried to reach that island. Unfortunately, it is said that bad weather prevented White from venturing south to search on the Croatoan Island for the missing colonists, so he returned to England instead. John White never returned to the New World and the missing folks were never accounted for; as a result, they came to be known as the “Lost Colony”. 

Almost 120 years later in the book A New Voyage to Carolina published in 1709 by explorer and writer, John Lawson, described the natives he encountered during his investigation of Hatteras Island as claiming that many of their ancestors were “white People”. He further described several of the island natives as having physical features such as “gray eyes” unlike all other Indians in the area.  By the 1880’s physical characteristics of other Indians native to North Carolina were described as being of “fair skin with light eyes and hair, and with Anglo bone structure.”

Just what happened to the Roanoke colony has been debated for more than 400 years; many theories have been made. Some possibilities include:

The Colonists Were Killed by the Spanish.

They Were  Killed  by Indians.                                                                           

The Colonists Attempted a Return to England and Were Lost at Sea.
They All Died as a Result of Disease or Famine.

Each of the theories above have there own advocates, but the most popular scenario is also one of the oldest, probably because it makes the most sense. This concept being the idea that the colonists, for whatever reason(s); abandoned Roanoke and were eventually assimilated (absorbed) into the various native tribes in the area.

Not long after the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, neighboring Indians told the new settlers stories of white skinned people (“men like thee”) with houses of stone living with other tribes. Other reports of white skinned people living among Indians continued throughout the 1600s and 1700s.

The “Lumbee” tribe of North Carolina, who are thought to be the descendants of the friendly Croatoan tribe, have always maintained that their ancestors include the Roanoke planters. Their claims have been further supported by historical researchers who maintain that English sounding words and names have been used by the Lumbees for several hundred years.

I’m betting that John White believed about the same thing, but in 1590 it was probably not considered socially acceptable to think that any good European, especially an Englishman, would, shall I say, “go native”.  It would have been much more practical to say: “It’s a real mystery folks, they all just vanished”.    

Sources ...

http://john-k-davis.suite101.com/the-lost-colony-of-roanoke-a87977#ixzz1emhJ7R6r http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Island