Introduction
Nearly
everyone has heard of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, the group of people in the
late 1500s who mysteriously disappeared. They had come to settle in the New
World, but when supply ships returned to visit them, the entire colony had
disappeared with hardly a trace, leaving only one important clue: the word
“Croatoan” carved into a fence-post. One must wonder…what do we actually know?
Historical
Background
At
the time, in the late 1500s, Queen Elizabeth the First was reigning in England.
She presided over all matters of exploration. So it was to her that Sir Walter
Raleigh went in pursuit of a charter to populate the New World with colonies.
She gave him the charter he requested, but stipulated that colonies must be
started or the deal was off.
Raleigh
never visited North America himself, though he did go on multiple voyages to
other locations. Instead, he commissioned Richard Granville to start a colony.
Granville took five ships and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, ending up on
the north end of Roanoke Island. The island stood off the coast of North
Carolina. Granville himself elected not to stay at the newly started colony,
instead leaving Ralph Lane with 107 men. Granville and the rest of his crew
sailed away from Roanoke Colony on August 17, 1585.
But
life was not easy for the pioneers who worked to establish themselves in a
predominantly Indian area. Lane built a fort to protect his people, but Indian
attacks were not uncommon. One major attack occurred in June of 1586. So when
Sir Francis Drake came by later in that same month and offered to take any who
wanted to return to England back with him, everyone abandoned the colony. And
so, for the first time, Roanoke was empty.
The
next expedition was led by John White in 1587. He arrived with 115 people[1]
and reestablished the colony. But White himself couldn’t stay long, and so he
left his wife, daughter, and grand-daughter (the infamous Virginia Dare) in the
fortress. In late 1587, he sailed for England, planning to come back soon with
supplies.
Facts of
the Disappearance
In
August of 1590, three years after he left, John White returned to Roanoke
Colony with several supply ships. He had been delayed by a war between the
English and the Spanish – Queen Elizabeth had refused to allow any ships to
make the trans-Atlantic voyage. But at long last, he procured permission and
supplies and returned – only to find the colony entirely abandoned. The 90 men,
17 women, and 11 children[2]
had evaporated into thin air.
There
was almost nothing to indicate where the people could have gone. In fact, there
were only two obvious clues. The first was the carving of the word “Croatoan”
into one of the fence-posts surrounding the colony. The other was the carving
of the letters “CRO” into a nearby tree. White had instructed the people to
carve the shape of a Maltese Cross if they were forced to leave under duress,
and nowhere in the area was that carved. Besides that, though the fence
surrounding the colony still stood, all the buildings had been neatly
dismantled, making it unlikely that the colonists left hurriedly.
Can you imagine the pain of
White as he abandoned the search for his wife, daughter, and grand-daughter
after less than 24 hours? A terrible storm was approaching, and his men
insisted on leaving. They sailed back to England without returning to Roanoke.
The only real search was in 1602, when an expedition was sent to find the
people – but since it was 12 years after their disappearance and the expedition
didn’t even reach Roanoke Island, nothing was found. John Smith and Jamestown
were also assigned to search for the missing colonists, but whether or not they
learned anything conclusive is debatable.
Theories
and Hypotheses
The
most popular theory concerning the disappearance of the colonists is that they
were incorporated into nearby Indian tribes. One possibility is the Chowanoke
tribe. A map known as the Zuniga Map, drawn in 1607, had a location labeled
with the words “four men clothed that came from roonock”. Were these men from
Roanoke? In 1612, it was reported that four English men, two boys, and one girl
were sighted beating copper for the Indians. The people of Jamestown also
reportedly once saw a boy with fair skin and blond hair, yet dressed as and
living with the natives.
The
Croatans, who lived 50 miles south, claimed in 1709 that they had white
ancestors who could read. In 1885, the following paragraph was included in the Fayetteville Observer concerning the
ancestry of the Indians:
“They say that
their traditions say that the people we call the Croatan Indians (though they
do not recognize that name as that of a tribe, but only a village, and that
they were Tuscaroras), were always friendly to the whites; and finding them
destitute and despairing of ever receiving aid from England, persuaded them to
leave [Roanoke Island], and go to the mainland … They gradually drifted away
from their original seats, and at length settled in Robeson, about the center
of the county.”
And
then there were the Powhatan people and their leader. Powhatan himself told
John Smith that the Roanoke colonists joined the Chespians (another Indian
tribe) and that Powhatan’s people killed the tribe and those with them.
However, he never produced any true evidence – no bodies, only a few English
iron implements. His tribe told writer William Strachey that at a short
distance there were “howses built with stone walles and one story above
another, so taught them by those Englishe who escaped the slaughter at
Roanoak…”
It is likely that
if the people joined with any group of Indians for any reason, they would have
divided into a few smaller groups as no tribe was big enough to absorb over 100
people.
Another
hypothesis is that the people grew tired of waiting for White’s return and
decided to venture out on their own. White had left them a pinnace and a few
small exploration ships, and if they tried to leave Roanoke and sail to
England, death is more than probable on the open seas.
One
theory is that the Spaniards were responsible. This is plausible in that the
Spaniards were trying to kill off any English or French in the area, and had
been responsible for the massacre of at least one French colony previously.
However, this is an unlikely explanation as the Spaniards were still searching
for the colony in 1600. Beside that, they usually burnt buildings and there was
no evidence found of burning at the site.
Perhaps
the Roanoke colonists decided to travel to the main land or inland and died in
the attempt. Between 1937 and 1941, a total of 48 stones were found that
claimed to be written by Eleanor Dare, Virginia Dare’s mother and John White’s
daughter. Many believe these stones to be hoaxes, but a few maintain that they
are true. They detail a journey made by the people, ending in the death of
Eleanor herself.
One
hypothesis that is quite ludicrous is that of a hurricane destroying everything
and killing the people. Yet the fence remains standing and no bodies were found
– therefore, we may safely rule out this idea. Another unlikely idea is that
the Indians killed the people, dismantled the village, and hid the bodies. This
is certainly a possibility, though not likely. And yet another is that the
immune systems of the English were not accustomed to the diseases in the area
and they all succumbed to some new death. But this too is unlikely, due to the
total absence of bodies and the dismantlement of the houses.
Archaeological
and New Evidence
While
nothing conclusive has yet been found (provided that one does not trust the
stones of Eleanor Dare), some things have been discovered. An archaeological
dig in the area unearthed a 16th century gold English signet ring that
can be traced almost definitely as belonging to one of the men from the group
who stayed. Two copper farthings were also found. One source quite definitely dated
them as 16th century; another said that they were no proof, as they
were the type not made until the 1670s. What the correct answer is, this author
does not know.
A
great deal of shoreline erosion has happened on Roanoke Island and been noted
in the past 100 years. If it eroded at this same speed ever since the 1600s, it
is more than likely, and indeed, almost definite, that the original colony site
would now be underwater, further complicating matters.
Recently,
some 800 year old cypress trees in the area have had their rings studied. These
studies have shown that a terrible drought was present from 1587 to 1589. Could
this be the reason that the settlers moved on? A severe drought of that sort
would affect the availability of not only food but also clean water.
Most
recently, in the 2010s, the “Virginea Pars” map has been considered. It was
discovered that the map had several patches. One was merely to fix the line of
the shore and the location of a few small villages. The other was a
contemporaneous patch over a possible fort shape. The map was drawn by John
White in 1585. Why would he put a patch over the location of a fort? It was an
important map, one shown to important people to demonstrate the details of the
colonization. A patch would be strange on it. Yet there is one. A further study
of the physical land indicated has revealed the possibility of several wooden
structures (or perhaps one large structure) underground – that is, the posts
remain rooted. But much more work must be done before anything will be
conclusively known.
So
we return to where we started. What happened to the colonists at Roanoke? Was
it a catastrophe? Was it Indians? Did they simply choose to move? Evidence can
indicate almost anything at this point. We may never know the answer for sure.
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