In July, 1587 a group of 115 men, women, and children landed at Roanoke, a 36 square-mile island lying just inside of present day North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Their purpose was to establish the first English colony in the New World. A few months later, the colony’s leader, John White, returned to England to report on the fledgling colony. It would be three years before White returned and when he finally did, what he found surprised him.
A Colony Becomes Lost
All the colonists, including White’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first European child born in America, had completely disappeared. Left behind were the ruins of the settlement and the letters CRO and CROATOAN carved on a tree and a palisade.
White immediately deciphered the message. The colonists, for reasons unknown, had sought refuge with the Croatoans, a peaceful Indian tribe some fifty miles south that had befriended the English in the past. However, because of various circumstances, White was never able to prove this and he returned to England, never to know the fate of his family and the other settlers.
Theories As to What Became of the Lost Colony
What happened to the Roanoke colony has been debated for 400 years and many theories have been made. Some possibilities are:
- The Colonists Were Killed by the Spanish. Spain and England were enemies at the time of the lost colony and Spain may have resented an intrusion by the English into what they felt was their territory. However, documents recently found in Spanish archives indicate that although the Spaniards were aware of, and even knew the location of the Roanoke colony, there was never any attempt made to attack it.
- The Colonists Were Killed by Indians. Leading credence to this is the story of Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas, who told Jamestown leader John Smith that the Roanoke colonists had gone to live with a Chesapeake tribe near present day Virginia Beach. During an attack on this tribe by Powhatan’s confederation, all the colonists were killed save “four men, two Boys, and one young maid.” As proof, Powhatan “showed a musket barrel and a brass mortar, and certain pieces of iron which had been theirs.”
- The Colonists Attempted a Return to England and Were Lost at Sea. This is highly unlikely. The boats left behind were small and were unsuitable for ocean travel. Even if an attempt was made, the boats could have only held a small number and the majority of settlers would still have been left behind.
- The Colonists All Died as a Result of Disease or Famine. Neither of these is beyond the realm of possibility although it has been reasonably argued that neither, in all likelihood, would have destroyed the entire colony.
The Most Popular Theory Concerning the Lost Colony
Although the above theories all have their advocates, the most popular scenario is also one of the oldest. This is the idea that the colonists, for reasons unknown, dispersed and eventually assimilated into the various native tribes.
Soon after the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, neighboring Indians told the new colonists stories of white skinned people with houses of stone living in the interior regions or of “men like thee” living with other tribes. Similar reports of white skinned people living among Indians continued throughout the 1600s and 1700s. In 1709, historian John Lawson reported that the Hatteras (Croatoan) Indians “tell us, that several of their Ancestors were white People…..the Truth of which is confirmed by gray eyes being found frequently among these Indians, and no others.”
Today’s Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, who are thought to be the descendants of the Croatoans, have always maintained that their ancestors include the Roanoke planters. Their claims have been supported by some historical researchers who point to the English sounding words and names that have been used by the Lumbees for several centuries. Other authorities, such as the late British historian, David Beers Quinn, have concluded that the colonists most likely went northward to the Chesapeake Bay area.
Will the mystery of Roanoke ever be solved? It’s hard to know, but there are some who believe that with the help of science it will be. One such group is The Lost Colony Genealogy and DNA Research Group.
John K. Davis - John is a retired teacher/librarian and has also been doing freelance writing since the late 1970s. Over this period of time, he has had ...
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