The History, Events, and Mystery of the Colony of Roanoke Island
by Guest Contributor: Logan Bowders
The Roanoke Colony was the first colony set up by England in North America. First established in 1585 and then quickly abandoned before being resettled two years later in 1587, the English colonists attempted to set up a permanent settlement on the island of Roanoke, but ultimately failed. In the process of establishing and maintaining the colony, relationships with the local natives soured, and multiple cases of death and disappearance of English colonists (the most famous of which being the entire colony set up in 1587) occurred. Though there is no definite agreed-upon outcome of what happened to the Roanoke Colony of 1587, relocating south to Croatoan Island is the most likely and logical answer to the mysterious disappearance of the colony.
Throughout the first half of the 16th century, countries such as Spain and France colonized the Americas. Brendan Wolfe, author and editor of Encyclopedias Virginia, claimed “England had been rather left behind in the European race to colonize newly discovered parts of the world.”1 In 1584 an expedition was approved and a pair of ships sailed from England across the Atlantic Ocean to scout a suitable location for England’s first permanent colony in the Americas. In July of that year, the ships landed at a set of barrier islands known as the Outer Banks off the coast of modern-day Virginia. The Englishmen quickly made friendly relations with the local natives exchanging clothes and wine for meat and fish. The Englishmen were invited to their village located on an island inside the Outer Banks known as Roanoke Island. Two Roanoke Natives volunteered to join the Englishmen on their return trip to England. After a month in the area, the scouting expedition returned to their ships and sailed back to England. Arriving back in England in late September, Walter Raleigh, one of the leaders of the previous expedition, began to plan out a return voyage to the Outer Banks with the plans of setting up a permanent settlement in the area.
After being approved by Queen Elizabeth I, in April of 1585 seven ships departed England to the Outer Banks intending to set up a permanent settlement. Led by Richard Grevile and Ralph Lane, the ships carried roughly 600 men and enough supplies to sustain the colonies for a year. The ships reached the Outer Banks in June, but as the flagship was entering the Outer Banks it struck a shoal which caused much of the supplies and food to fall into the Atlantic Ocean. Because of the incident, the scale of the colony had to be scaled back. With the permission of the natives, roughly 100 men were left on Roanoke Island to start construction on the Roanoke Colony. Roanoke Island was chosen for two primary reasons. The first was that it had quick access to the Atlantic Ocean, and the second reason was that the colony would be hidden by the surrounding islands from any ships traveling along the coast. This was advantageous because Spain claimed the land Roanoke Island was off the coast of, and the English colony did not want to cause any unwanted attention from the Spanish. Due to most of the supplies and food that were packed for the first voyage and settlement going overboard, a second voyage with supplies was planned to depart and reach the colony by the winter of that year. However, the resupply voyage was overturned by the Queen, and by Spring 1586, the Roanoke Colony had run out of food, and they were unable to grow more because they landed too late into the season. The English Colonists resorted to asking the natives for food. The Natives complied, but the natives only had a limited amount of food to spare, and they could not meet all the requests of the colonists. This overdependence quickly soured their relationship with the Natives. This, in combination with the observation that the colonists' visits to Native Villages often caused natives to collapse and die, led to cohabitation on the island between the Colonists and the Natives being no longer possible.
Chief Wingina, the chief of the tribe on Roanoke Island, decided to remove his people from Roanoke Island and relocate to a village on the mainland. This raised suspicion within the English Colony leading Ralph Lane and the rest of the colony to believe the Natives were planning to attack the colony. Whether their suspicions were true or not, in June 1586 the colonists launched an attack on the Native Village killing Chief Wingina. Within a week after the attack on the Native Village, a fleet of English ships captained by Sir Francis Drake visited the Outer Banks on its trip back to England. Because of the recent violent events between the colonists and the Natives and the lack of food and supplies, it was decided to abandon the colony. The colony was evacuated off the island and returned to England on Sir Francis Drakes’ fleet. Two weeks after the evacuation a fleet of English ships visited the colony and found it deserted. The captain left fifteen men at the colony before heading back to England.
Even though the 1585 expedition to the Outer Banks and Roanoke Island was seen as a failure, one man from the 1585 expedition urged England to make a return trip. That man was painted by the name John White. Historian Mark Cartwright claims “John White painted the colony, wildlife, and peoples of the region, creating An invaluable pictorial record which still survives today.”2 Sir Walter Raleigh was persuaded by John White to prepare a second expedition across the Atlantic to set up a colony. Unlike the first expedition, this expedition planned to bring along women and children instead of just men. On May 8, 1587, a fleet of three ships departed from England led by John White to return to America, and eight-nine men, seventeen women, and eleven children were aboard the three ships. Originally the second colony was going to set up North of Roanoke Island in the Chesapeake Bay area, but during the voyage across the Atlantic, they decided to return to Roanoke Island instead. On July 22, 1587, the colonists landed on Roanoke Island with the intent of revving the colony. When looking for the fifteen men left by the English fleet the year prior John White wrote “We found none of them, nor any sign that they had been there, saving only we found the bones of one of those fifteen, which the Savages had slain long before.”3 According to a Native from the Croatoan tribe a group of Natives attacked the fifteen men on Roanoke Island killing at least two of them while the rest of the survivors fled on a small boat. While establishing the colony the colonists were unable to establish friendly relations with the Natives due to the previous actions between the two groups. This was further established on July 28 when colonist George Howe was found dead on the beach of Roanoke Island killed by the Natives.
In the first month on the island, the colonists grew concerned about the long-term survival of the colony and decided to ask John White, who was the governor of the colony, to return to England to bring back more food supply and people for the colony. On August 27, 1597, John White departed from Roanoke Island to head back to England. John White returned to England at war. The Queen ordered ships to leave until the threat of a Spanish Invasion was gone. Because of this, John White was unable to set sail back to Roanoke Island until three years later. With the help of Sir Walter Raliegh John White was able to set up a fleet of ships that departed England on March 20, 1590, to resupply the Colony of Roanoke. The ships arrived on the Outer Banks on August 16, 1590. When John White and the rest of the crew came into view of Roanoke Island, plumes of smoke were coming from the North end of the island. Once ashore the men traveled to the colony where they came across a carving. John White wrote “One of the chiefe trees or postes at the right side of the entrance had the barke taken off, and 5. foote from the ground in fayre Capitall letters was graven CROATOAN without any crosse or signe of distresse.”4 Upon entering the colony no trace of any of the roughly 117 colonists and most belongings could be found. John White also noted that there was overgrowth lending to the idea that the colony was not abandoned recently. Due to craving on the post outside the colony, John White believed the colonies relocated to Croatoan Island and attempted two voyages to investigate his theory, but due to stormy weather and the ship's anchor cable snapping, John White was unable to visit the island of Croatan and was forced to sail back to England without knowing the true whereabouts of the colonists.
John White nor any other person was able to confirm the location or fate of the colonists making the colony known as the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Similar to the colony of 1585, the colony of 1587, was deemed a failure, and future colonies were planned to be located in other areas outside of Roanoke Island ending the era of English colonies on Roanoke Island, but the question of what happened to the Lost Colony continued for centuries.
The belief among John White, and many other people, was that the colony relocated to Croatan Island and assimilated with the natives. When John White left the colony in 1587 he made an agreement with the colony that if they had to evacuate the island then they would leave a symbol of their location and a cross if the relocation was forced upon them. There was a clear craving for the word CROATOAN with no cross which led John White to believe the colony relocated to the island of Croatoan voluntarily. This idea is further solidified in his mind because almost all of the valuable material was taken from the colony. During John White’s investigation of the colony, the only valuable item he discovered was a few canons and bars of iron. Another reason why John White believed the colonists left for Croatoan was because prior to his departure in 1587, the colonists voiced the idea of migrating. John White wrote in his journal, “For at my coming away they were prepared to remove from Roanoke 50 miles into the mame.”5 The colonist’s original idea was to move into the mainland which would not line up with the theory of them moving to Croatoan which is fifty miles south and an island, but since the carving they left said CROATOAN it is likely they left for the island. Since the colony was running low on resources such as food, it would make sense for them to join a pre-existing community with access to and knowledge to produce food. This theory of them leaving for Croatoan is further solidified by the small boats the colonists had were no longer on the island when John White arrived in 1590.
Archaeological evidence also points towards the assimilation of the colonists and natives of Croatoan Island. Archaeological digs have unearthed items from the English colonists in Native American tribes. Glass trade beads, iron tools, and copper pieces that had been crafted into ornaments in a style associated with Native American metalworking which confirms the English colonies at least had cultural exchange with the natives of the area. The copper piece ornaments were Carbon-14 dated by the First Colony Foundation, the leading organization on archaeological digs surrounding the Lost Colony of Roanoke, in which they found “The C14 dates for the organic material indicates a 68% probability that it dates between 1580 and 1630, and a 95% probability that it was dates between 1440 and 1640.”6 This likely puts the piece in the same time period as the Roanoke of 1587.
The Roanoke Colony of 1587 was not the last time England attempted to explore and colonize the area. In the next centuries, England set up colonies such as Jamestown, and during this time period they had encounters and heard accounts from natives that pointed towards some of the native’s ancestors being of English descent. The first of these encounters was documented by George Percy, an English colonist and author of books detailing accounts and events for the earlier years of the Jamestown colony. In May 1607, a group of colonists encountered a boy from one of the native tribes with unexpected physical features. “We saw a Savage Boy about the age of ten years, who had a head of hair of a perfect yellow and a reasonable white skin, which is a Miracle among all Savage.”7 This encounter has led people to speculate whether this boy was possibility a descendant of a Roanoke colonist who joined a native tribe. However, albinism would also explain the unique traits of the native boy, and albinism has also been documented to be more common in native populations. The encounter that is cited more often has evidence pointing towards the assimilation of the Roanoke colony came a century later when English explorer John Lawson came into contact with the Hatteras tribe. John Lawson wrote in his journal, “These tell us, that several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in a Book, as we do; the Truth of which is confirm'd by gray Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others.”8 Gray eyes and the ability to read were traits not seen in native tribes but were for Europeans, and white skin though can be caused by albinism is another feature to note especially since the Hatteras occupied the same area that the Croatoans did a century prior.
Assimilation into the native population is one of the two predominantly believed and speculated hypotheses to explain the disappearance of the Colony of Roanoke, and natives attacked, killed, or kidnapped the colonists is the other. Due to the actions of the Roanoke Colony of 1585 multiple native tribes had a hostile relationship with the English colonists. Native tribes already had a history of attacking and killing English colonies before the disappearance of the colony of 1587, so it is possible that natives besieged the colony between 1587 and 1590. The main flaw in this hypothesis is there has yet to be any evidence discovered pointing to the mass death of colonists in the area. When John White and the colonists returned to the colony in 1587 they discovered the remains of some of the fifteen men left by Sir Francis Drake, but when John White returned in 1590 he did not find any human remains from a possible attack on the roughly 117 colonists. Archaeological digs of the colony and the surrounding area have also not found any evidence of a possible native attack on the colony. Another flaw is that there was no credible claim by a native tribe of performing or knowing of an attack on the colony during those three years. The only evidence that supports this theory is the history of the hostile encounters with the natives before John White’s departure but those encounters have had accounts and physical evidence.
Possibly, if John White was able to reach Croatoan Island after discovering the abandoned colony in 1590, and confirm the theory he had about the whereabouts of the colony, the colony would not be lost. However, that was not the case and it is impossible to say for certain. However, with archaeological evidence and accounts of natives of the area claiming to have white ancestors, as well as the carving CROATOAN, evidence points towards the reality of the Roanoke Colony of 1587 assimilation with the Croatoan tribe fifty miles south of the colony.
[Logan Bowders is currently a student at Western Oregon University.]
Brendan Wolfe, “Roanoke Colonies, The,” Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities, Last modified, May 24,2022, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/roanoke-colonies-the/.
Cartwright, Mark. "Roanoke Colony." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified June 18, 2020, https://www.worldhistory.org/Roanoke_Colony/.
John White, The Fift Voyage Of Master John White Into The West Indies And Parts Of America Called Virginia, In The Yeere 1590 (Edinburgh, Scotland: E. & G. Goldsmid, 1600), 298.
Ibid., 298.
Ibid., 299.
Evans, C K. “Archaeologists Work in Water and on Land.” First Colony Foundation, February 8, 2023, https://www.firstcolonyfoundation.org/news/archaeologists-work-water-land-roanoke-island/.
George Percy, “Observations By Master George Percy 1607,” Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625 (New York: New York: Barnes & Noble, 2000), 5-23.
Lawson, John. A New Voyage to Carolina; Containing the Exact Description and Natural History of that Country: Together with the Present State thereof. And a Journal of a Thousand Miles, Travel’d thro’ several Nations of Indians. Giving a particular Account of their Customs, Manners, &c. London, England: London, 1709.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Lawson, John. A New Voyage to Carolina; Containing the Exact Description and Natural History of that Country: Together with the Present State thereof. And a Journal of a Thousand Miles, Travel’d thro’ several Nations of Indians. Giving a particular Account of their Customs, Manners, &c. London, England: London, 1709.
Percy, George. “Observations By Master George Percy 1607.” Narratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625, 1st ed., 5–23. New York, New York: New York: Barnes & Noble, 1946.
White, John. The Fift Voyage Of Master John White Into The West Indies And Parts Of America Called Virginia, In The Yeere 1590. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh : E. & G. Goldsmid, 1600.
Secondary Sources:
Cartwright, Mark. “Roanoke Colony.” World History Encyclopedia, April 23, 2024. https://www.worldhistory.org/Roanoke_Colony/.
Evans, C K. “Archaeologists Work in Water and on Land.” First Colony Foundation, February 8, 2023. https://www.firstcolonyfoundation.org/news/archaeologists-work-water-land-roanoke-island/.
Wolfe, Contributor: Brendan. “Roanoke Colonies, The.” Encyclopedia Virginia, May 24, 2022. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/roanoke-colonies-the/.