'I know that historians do borrow of poets, not only much of their
ornament but somewhat of their substance.'--_Raleigh's History of
the World._
The name of Roanoke Island awakens in the mind of every lover of
American history, sentiments of veneration and respect. It carries us
back to the days of England's great Queen, to ruffs and rapiers, and
calls up the memories of the gallant but unfortunate Raleigh, and of the
brave knights, Grenville, Lane, and White, men who made their mark in
history even in that golden era of chivalry and enterprise.
Let us go back through the vista of nearly three centuries, and trace
the history of this spot where our language was first spoken and written
on this continent. When we recall the first occupation of this island by
the English, and picture to ourselves the Indians in their normal state,
with their dress, habitations, and implements, so picturesque and
unique, as well as the gallant gentlemen in the costume of that
picturesque age, it seems almost to border on romance. But there is a
dark side to the picture. The sombre veil of uncertainty hangs over the
fate of two entire colonies, which, if lifted, would consecrate this
spot to the extremes of suffering and bloodshed. It was, no doubt,
better to have these scenes buried in oblivion, and for each succeeding
historian to fill up this chapter with his own fancies, than to be able
to give the minute details of long days and months of probable famine,
pestilence, war, captivity, and torture, which have occurred here or in
the immediate vicinity. The certain knowledge of them would have
awakened in their countrymen sentiments of retaliation and vengeance,
and a fearful retribution would have been meted but to the natives, and
have fallen upon the innocent as well as the guilty.
It was not until about the commencement of the sixteenth century that
England could be considered one of the great maritime powers in Europe.
Although Henry the Seventh had authorized Cabot to prosecute a voyage of
discovery as early as 1497, in which he discovered the continent, thus
actually anticipating Columbus, who did not discover it till the
succeeding year, no real attempts at colonization took place until a
century afterward. In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained a patent from
Queen Elizabeth to colonize such parts of North-America as were not then
occupied by any of her allies. Soon after, he, assisted and accompanied
by his step-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, fitted out an expedition and
sailed for America; but they were intercepted by a Spanish fleet, and
returned unsuccessful.
In 1583, they equipped a new squadron, in which Raleigh did not embark.
This enterprise failed, and Sir Humphrey perished at sea. Still Raleigh
was not disheartened. He had been a soldier in the religious war then
raging in France, and associated with the Protestant admiral, Coligny,
and many of his officers, whose ill-fated colony met so bloody a fate
near the river St. John. Doubtless, during his intercourse with these
men, their experience in Florida often became the theme of discourse,
and it may be that from it he imbibed that passion for discovery and
colonization in America, which ended only with his life. He doubtless
learned of the voyage of Verranzo, who, in the employ of France, had, in
1524, coasted from Cape Fear to Rhode Island; but still our shores were
hardly more than a myth, and the country north of the peninsula of
Florida a _terra incognita_. Early in 1584, Raleigh, then a gallant
courtier, received a grant from Elizabeth to 'discover and find out such
remote and heathen lands, not actually possessed or inhabited by any
Christian King, or his subjects, and there to have, hold, fortify, and
possess, in fee-simple to him and his associates and their heirs
forever, with privileges of allegiance to the crown of all that might
there reside; they and their descendants.'
This grant would apply to any portion of the globe not claimed or
inhabited by the subjects of a Christian prince. The grant bears date
March 25th, in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
1584. Raleigh anticipated its passing the great seal, and probably had
for some months been making preparations for a voyage of discovery under
this patent. So energetic was he, that two barks were prepared and
dispatched from the west of England on the 27th of April. They were
under the commands of Captains Amidas and Barlow, with Simeon Fernando
as pilot, who, it may be presumed from the name, was a Spaniard, and no
doubt had been on this coast before. They took the route by way of the
Canaries and West-India Islands, and by the tenth of May had reached the
former, and by the tenth of June the latter, where they staid twelve
days.
Continuing their voyage, on the second of July they found shoal water,
where they say[K]: 'We smelled so sweet and strange a smell, as if we
had been in the midst of a delicate garden, abounding with all kinds of
odoriferous herbs and flowers, so we were assured that the land could
not be far distant; and keeping good watch, and bearing but slack sail,
the fourth of the same month we arrived upon the coast, which we
supposed to be a continent, and firm land; and we sailed along the same
a hundred and twenty miles, before we could find any entrance or river
issuing into the sea.'
They entered the first inlet which appeared, 'but not without
difficulty, and anchored on the left-hand side.' Subsequent historians
have written much to settle the long-disputed question, by what channel
or inlet the earliest English navigators entered. After a careful
examination of the early and of later authorities, and with some
practical acquaintance with the localities, I am of the opinion that
they must have entered by what is now known as Hatteras Inlet. 'The
island twenty miles long and not over six miles broad,' was that part
of the banks or shore between this inlet and that now known as Ocracoke.
So soon as they had given thanks to God for their safe arrival, they
landed, and took possession in 'the right of the Queen's most excellent
majesty,' and afterward delivered it over to the use of the grantee.
They found the land sandy and low, and expressed their admiration of the
abundance of wild grapes, as well as the pines and cedars; but saw no
inhabitants. The third day, they espied a small boat, with three
persons, who came to the shore. There they were met by the two captains
and the pilot, and one of the natives boldly commenced a conversation
entirely unintelligible to the Englishmen, but most friendly in its
tones. Having received a shirt and hat, the Indian, after viewing the
vessels, fell to fishing, and in less than half an hour loaded his boat
as deep as she could swim with fishes, which he soon landed on the shore
and divided between the ship and pinnace. The next day, there came
divers boats, containing forty or fifty natives, 'a very handsome and
goodly people, and in their behavior and manners as civil as any in
Europe.' Among them was the king's brother, 'Grangamimeo,' who said the
king was called Winginia. They commenced trading with the Indians, no
doubt greatly to their own advantage. The natives were, of course, much
astonished at the splendor and profusion of the articles offered; but of
all things which he saw, a bright tin dish most pleased Grangamimeo. He
clapped it on his breast, and after drilling a hole in the brim, hung it
about his neck, making signs that it would defend him from his enemies.
This tin dish was exchanged for twenty deerskins, worth twenty crowns,
and a copper kettle for fifty skins. In a few days, they were visited by
the king and his family. The women had bracelets of pearl and ornaments
of copper; the pearl was probably nothing but pieces of shell, and the
copper must have been obtained from near Lake Superior, where the mines
had been worked ages before the advent of the white man. The Indians
told them of a ship that had been wrecked near there twenty-six years
previously, and that the crew attempted to escape in their boat, but
probably perished, as the boat was afterward found on another island.
This story has usually been looked upon with doubt; but recent
researches in the Spanish archives have shown that they had a fort and
colony at Port Royal in 1557, and about the same period, another in the
Chesapeake. There can be but little doubt that the story was true, and
that the ship contained Spaniards passing between these two places. They
also told curious stories of a great river 'Cipo,' where pearl was
obtained, which has puzzled later historians to locate; but we now know
that _Cipo_ or _Sepo_, in the Algonquin language, which was spoken from
Maine to about this point, means simply a river, and probably referred
to either the Moratio, now called the Roanoke, or to the Chowan.
These narratives give a glowing account of the natives and of their
ability to construct their houses and canoes and weirs for fish. As this
was their first intercourse with Europeans, it undoubtedly shows what
their true condition was and had been for centuries. Situated, as this
territory is, under a mild climate, where corn, beans, and melons can be
so easily raised, and having a great abundance of game and fish, it must
have been a paradise for the Indians. Of the king's brother, it is said:
'He was very just of his promise; for many times we delivered him
merchandise upon his word, but ever he came within the day and
performed his promise. He sent us every day a brace or two of fat
bucks, conies, hares, and fish, the best in the world. He sent us
divers kinds of fruits, melons, walnuts, cucumbers, gourds, peas,
and divers roots and fruits, very excellent and good; and of their
country corn, which is very white, fair, and well-tasted, and
grows three times in five months. In May, they sow; in July, they
reap: in June, they sow; in August, they reap: in July, they sow;
in September, they reap. They cast the corn into the ground,
breaking a little of the soft turf with a wooden mattock.
Ourselves proved the soil, and put some of our peas into the
ground, and in ten days they were fourteen inches high. They have
also beans, very fair, of divers colors, and wonderful plenty;
some growing naturally and some in their gardens.'
Their advent to Roanoke Island is thus described:
'After they had been divers times aboard our vessels, myself with
seven others went twenty miles into the river that runs toward the
city of Skicoak, which river they call Occum, and the evening
following, we came to an island which they call Roanoke, distant
from the harbor by which we entered seven leagues. At the north
end thereof was a village of nine houses, built of cedar and
fortified round about with sharp trees, to keep out their enemies;
and the entrance into it made like a turnpike, very artificially.
When we came toward it, standing near unto the water side, the
wife of Grangamimeo, the king's brother, came running out to meet
us very cheerfully and friendly; her husband was not then in the
village. Some of her people she commanded to draw our boat on
shore; others she appointed to carry us on their backs to the dry
ground, and others to bring our oars into the house, for fear of
stealing. When we were come to the outer room, having five rooms
in her house, she caused us to sit down by a great fire, and
afterward took off our clothes and washed them and dried them
again. Some of the women washed our feet in warm water, and she
took great pains to see all things ordered in the best manner,
making great haste to dress some meat for us to eat. After we had
dried ourselves, she brought us into the inner room, when she sat
on the board standing alongside the house, and placed before us
some wheat fermented, sodden venison, and fish, sodden, boiled,
and roasted, melons, raw and sodden, roots of divers kinds, and
fruits. We were entertained with all love and kindness, and with
as much bounty as we could possibly desire. We found these people
most gentle, loving, and faithful; void of all guile and treason,
and such as live after the manner of the golden age.'
'Beyond this island, called Roanoke, a main stands, very plentiful
in fruits and other natural increase, together with many towns and
villages alongside the continent, some bordering upon the islands,
and some standing further into the land.'
'When we first had sight of this country, some thought the first
land we saw to be a continent; but after we entered into the
haven, we saw before us another mighty long sea, for there lieth
along the coast a tract of island two hundred miles in extent.'
Thus they picture the country with the rosy tint so natural to all
discoverers. They speak of the island as being sixteen miles long, which
recent surveys show nearly correct. Many of the trees, animals, and fish
were new to them, and like all travelers, they did not neglect to give a
fair embellishment in their report to Raleigh. Their stay in the country
was brief, less than sixty days, and on their return, they carried with
them two of the Indians, named Wanchese and Mantco, who were regarded as
a great curiosity by the English. They were exhibited at London to
thousands, and gave Raleigh great satisfaction, as they were the first
natives of America who had visited England.
The return of Amidas and Barlow, with their flattering report of the
discovery and beauty of Virginia, created great excitement throughout
England, and with it a desire to visit the new land. The soldiers of
fortune, of which that reign was fruitful, were ready to embark in any
cause that promised wealth or fame; and the nobility and merchants, with
sanguine views of trade and extensive domains containing the precious
metals, were ready to furnish the means to transport a colony to the new
El Dorado. It was not difficult to procure men, under such dazzling
aspects; a sufficient number was soon enrolled, but the material was not
of a kind to make a successful and permanent settlement. Disbanded
soldiers from foreign service, and London tradesmen out of business, and
enlisting only with the hope of soon obtaining wealth, and returning
home to enjoy it, were not the men to clear away forests, cultivate the
soil, or develop industry, the only true source for success in America.
The fleet consisted of seven vessels, the 'Tiger' and 'Roebuck,' each of
one hundred and forty tons; the 'Lion,' of one hundred; and the
'Elizabeth,' of fifty tons; with a small bark and two pinnaces, which
were without decks.
In this fleet were several, eminent among the gallant men who have
contributed so much to render the reign of the Virgin Queen illustrious
in history. The commander, Sir Richard Grenville, distinguished himself
at the battle of Lepanto, and afterward lost his life in a desperate
encounter with a Spanish fleet off the Azores. He was a cousin of
Raleigh, and always his friend. The next in real rank was Ralph Lane, to
whom was delegated the office of governor, and of whom we shall speak
hereafter. Thomas Cavendish commanded one of the vessels. He was a
wealthy and dashing adventurer, who, after his return, fitted out an
expedition and captured some Spanish ships with great treasure; but
after a reckless life, he found an early grave. Lewis Stukely, another
cousin of Raleigh, had some prominent station. He proved a base
character, and assisted, by his intrigues, in bringing his patron to the
block. Amidas, who was in the first voyage, also found place here, with
the title of 'admiral.' Simeon Fernando, the former pilot, was now in
command of the 'Tiger.'
The fleet sailed from Plymouth on the ninth of April, 1585, and made one
of the West-India Islands, where they had many adventures, on the
fourteenth of May. Thence proceeding on their voyage, they reached the
coast of Florida on the twentieth of June; on the twenty-third, they
barely escaped wreck on Cape Fear shoals; and on the twenty-sixth
anchored at Wocokon, now known as Ocracoke. Three days afterward, in
attempting to cross the bar, the 'Tiger' struck, and remained for some
time; the first of many similar accidents on that wild and dangerous
spot. On the third of July, they sent word of their arrival to Winginia,
the Indian king at Roanoke; and the same day dispatched Captain Arundell
across the sound to the main land, where he found two men who had
arrived twenty days before, in one of the smaller vessels. For the next
ten days, they were engaged in visiting the Indian towns on the main.
Here one of the Indians stole a silver cup. To recover it, a party
visited a town, and not obtaining the cup, burned the houses and spoiled
the corn; 'a mean revenge,' destined to meet a bloody retaliation.
Soon after, the fleet sailed to Hatorask; not the cape or the inlet
which we now call by nearly the same name, but an inlet then nearly
opposite Roanoke, where all those intending to remain were probably
landed. On the twenty-fifth of August, the fleet sailed for England.
The colony, landed on Roanoke, consisted of one hundred and seven
persons, of whom Ralph Lane was the Governor, Amidas, the admiral,
Hariot, the historian and chaplain, and John White the artist. So soon
as they were settled at the island, they began the exploration of the
country. This was done in boats, and entirely toward the south. Visiting
the Neuse and the western shore of Pamlico Sound, they explored
Currituck, on the east; while on the north, they penetrated to the
distance of one hundred and sixty miles, and ascended Moratio, now known
as the Roanoke river, probably more than fifty miles from its mouth.
This was done with extreme labor and peril, as the Indians had deluded
them with a story of mines of gold, and having notice of Lane's coming,
were prepared to attack him. So sanguine were the party of finding
mines, and yet so reduced, that they still pushed on, though they once
found that they had but a half-pint of corn for a man, besides two
mastiffs, upon the pottage of which, with sassafras leaves, they might
subsist for two days. They returned safe, however, without any of the
precious metals which they had made such exertions to find. Lane also
explored the Chowan, or, as he called it, the Chowanook. The king of
this country gave him much information respecting the territory, which
proved to be perfectly truthful.
From the Indians, Lane had received intimations of the existence of
Chesapeake Bay,[L] and was desirous of visiting it.
The story of this 'king' of the Chesapeans was full of interest, he
knowing well the route, which Lane communicates, with the plans he
intended to carry out, but which the sudden departure of the colony left
unfulfilled, so that the great bay remained for a few years longer a
mere myth to the English. Of this native king, Lane says:
'He is called Menatonon, a man impotent in his limbs, but
otherwise, for a savage, a very grave and wise man, and of a very
singular good discourse in matters concerning the state, not only
in his own country, and the disposition of his own men, but also
of his neighbors round about him, as well far as near, and of the
commodities that each country yielded. When I had him prisoner
with me for two days that we were together, he gave me more
understanding and light of the country than I have received by all
the searches and savages that I or any of my company have had
conference with.' 'He told me that by going three days' journey up
the Chowanook, (Chowan,) you are within four days' journey over
land north-east to a certain king's country, which lays upon the
sea; but his greatest place of strength is an island,[M] as he
described to me, in a bay, the water round about it very deep.
... He also signified to me that this king had so great a quantity
of pearl as that not only his own skins that he wears and his
gentlemen and followers are full set with the pearl, but also his
beds and houses are garnished with them.' 'He showed me certain
pearl the said king brought him two years before, but of the worst
sort. He gave me a rope of the same pearl,[N] but they were black
and nought;--many of them were very large, etc. It seemed to me
that the said king had traffic with white men that had clothes as
we have.' ... 'The king of Chowanook promised to give me guides to
go into that king's country, but he advised me to take good store
of men and victual with me.' ... 'And I had resolved, had supplies
have come in a reasonable time, to have undertaken it.'
He goes on to state that he would have sent two small pinnaces to the
northward, to have discovered the bay he speaks of, while he, with all
the small boats and two hundred men, would have gone up the Chowanook
with the guides, whom he would have kept in manacles, to the head of the
river, where he would have left his boats, and raised a small trench
with a palisado on it, and left thirty men to guard the boats and
stores. Then he would have marched two days' journey, and raised another
'sconce,' or small fort, and left fifteen or twenty men near a
corn-field, so that they might live on that. Then, in two days more, he
would have reached the bay, where he would have built his main fort, and
removed his colony.
It is interesting, at this time, to see how Lane would, with the caution
and boldness of a good soldier, have passed up the broad estuary of the
Chowan to 'where it groweth to be as narrow as the Thames between
Lambeth and Westminster,' and so on, and turning into the Blackwater,
which he would have navigated probably to where it is now crossed by the
railroad, he would have been within fifty or sixty miles of the bay.
While we write, General Burnside is pursuing the same route, not to
capture from a savage tribe, but from a rebellious and traitorous
people, the same domain.
The same chief or king gave Lane a fanciful account of the Moratio
river, which we now call the Roanoke. He says:
'This river opens into the broad sound of Weapomeiok, (Albemarle,)
and the other rivers and sounds show no current, but in calm
weather are moved by the wind. This river of Moratio has so swift
a current from the West, that I thought it would with oars scarce
be navigable; the current runs as strong as at London bridge. The
savages do report strange things of the head of the river, which
was thirty days' voyage; that it springs out of a great rock, and
makes a most violent stream; and that this rock stands so near
unto the South Sea, that in storms the waves beat into the stream
and make it brackish.'
This river he afterward explored. But ere long, either from oppression
or fear of the English, the Indians assumed a hostile attitude, and laid
plans to surprise them. The English had to be continually on their
guard, and in the mean time famine compelled them to leave Roanoke in
large parties, to obtain subsistence from the corn-fields, or proceed
along the coast for shell-fish.
About the first of June, 1586, Lane, with a party, left the island,
proceeding across the sound, and by a stratagem, hardly authorized in an
honorable soldier, captured and killed the chief of the country and many
of his people.
In the mean time, he was on the look-out for ships from England, with
supplies, and had sent Captain Stafford, with a party, to 'Croatan,'
probably at or near what is now known as Cape Lookout, to discover their
approach. Suddenly, he reported a great fleet of twenty sail in sight,
which proved to be the squadron commanded by the celebrated Sir Francis
Drake, who was returning from one of his expeditions among the Spanish
settlements in the West-Indies. When Drake left England, he was directed
to look after Raleigh's colony, and had accordingly brought a letter to
Lane. He anchored his fleet opposite Roanoke, (probably just off 'Nagg's
Head,' now celebrated as the scene of the temporary sojourn and flight
of Governor Wise,) and supplied them with the needed provisions. He also
made them an offer of one of his small vessels, which they very gladly
accepted.
But a storm, which continued for many days, came upon them; the promised
bark was driven to sea; the open roadstead, where the larger ships were
compelled to anchor, made Roanoke an undesirable location, and as the
time had long expired when the promised reinforcements should have
arrived from England, this disappointment, together with the hostilities
of the Indians, so discouraged the leaders of the colony, that they
solicited and obtained from Drake a passage to England. On the
nineteenth of June, after a little less than a year's residence in the
new land, they all sailed for home, and Roanoke Island was left in
solitude.
It is somewhat singular that with all the wars, famine, and privations
of these adventurers, not a solitary death occurred during the time they
spent here.
It certainly speaks much for the salubrity of the climate, as well as
for the care of the officers who were in command. They all arrived
safely in England, about the last of July.[O]
[Foonote O: After Lane returned home, he obtained some celebrity as a
soldier, in various wars, and was knighted. His narrative, addressed to
Raleigh, as printed in Hakluyt, would prove him possessed of much
energy. As the first Governor of an American colony, his name has been
kept in remembrance. Had the supply-ship arrived but a few weeks sooner,
he might have remained, and his colony have been the progenitors of the
English race on this continent.]
Among the eminent men who accompanied Lane, and passed nearly a year at
Roanoke, was Thomas Hariot, an Oxford scholar and a celebrated
mathematician. He went out in the expedition as historian and
naturalist, to make a topographical and scientific survey and report of
the country and its commodities, duties fulfilled by him in the most
faithful manner. His report was published in London, in 1588, under the
title of _A Brief and True Report of the New-found Land in Virginia, of
the Commodities found there, etc._ It was, in 1590, put into Latin, and
published by Theodore de Bry, at Frankfort, with about thirty curious
engravings, from the designs of John White, the artist who accompanied
the expedition. These pictures are exceedingly well executed, by eminent
Dutch artists, and a number of them give undoubtedly the exact portraits
of many of the principal Indians, with their costumes and habits, as
they were before they were changed by intercourse with the Europeans,
showing us their original condition.
The Aborigines were certainly further advanced in agriculture and
civilization than has been generally supposed, and probably much more
than the tribes who resided further north. To all who are curious in the
history of the early inhabitants of North-America, this work will be
found of extraordinary interest. It may be observed that the maps of the
coast which it contains are remarkably correct, and at the same time
indicate many important changes to have since occurred. But its greatest
value is its description of the 'commodities' or valuable productions,
of daily use and commercial value, which were found here. Thus, under
the Indian name of _Uppowoc_, Hariot gives a description of the
tobacco-plant,[O] which had been previously known to the Spaniards.
This, however, seems to have been its earliest introduction to the
English, and it was carried home by them 'to the nobility.' In the
account of this plant, we are told that it is so esteemed by the Indians
that they even think their gods are delighted with it. Our chronicler
further says: 'We were in the habit of using this plant for our
diseases, as the natives did, and have continued the practice since our
return.' It was only used to smoke; the natives were never guilty of
chewing it.' Among the roots, it mentions _Openauk_, which must have
been what we call the pea-nut, which is now largely cultivated along
that coast, and is quite an article of commerce. They also found here
the sweet potato and various kinds of squashes and melons, as well as
many varieties of beans, some of which are still cultivated extensively
in that region.
It also describes a root which grows sometimes as large as a human head;
this must have been what is now known as the _tanger_. But the greatest
discovery of all was the potato, which has been of such inestimable
benefit to mankind. This, which they carried home, was cultivated by
Raleigh, on his estate in Ireland, and thence disseminated through
Europe. Doubt has been thrown over this statement by the fact that
botanists have been unable to find this plant in North-America in an
indigenous state, and so have concluded that it never grew here at all.
Our volume, however, proves that it was cultivated by the natives, as
were corn, beans, and tobacco. Of it, Hariot speaks as follows:
'_Kaishuopenauk_ is a kind of white root of the size of a hen's
egg, and almost similar in form; it did not seem to be of a very
pleasant taste, and consequently we did not take any particular
pains to learn its history, yet the natives cook and eat them.'
Scarcely any part of our country has a greater variety of plants and
trees than this vicinity. It will be found an interesting field for
botanists.
Only a few days had elapsed after the departure of the colonists, when a
ship, prepared and furnished with supplies from Raleigh, arrived at
Roanoke. After some days spent by her commander in searching for his
countrymen, he set sail for home. Fifteen days after the departure of
this supply-ship, three vessels, under the command of Sir Richard
Grenville, made their appearance before the place, and when he
ascertained the state of affairs, his disappointment was extreme. He,
however, made extensive explorations, and leaving fifteen men to reside
at Roanoke and keep possession of the country, departed for home. One
would suppose that Raleigh, by this time, would have become disheartened
by his disappointments in America; but he was now at the hight of his
prosperity, and seemed never to despair of the final success of this his
favorite project. The following year, 1587, a new expedition was fitted
out under the charge of John White, as Governor, with twelve assistants.
They were to found the city of Raleigh, in Virginia. This fleet of three
ships left Plymouth on the fifth of May, and after making a short stay
at the West-India Islands, sailed for our coast, reaching it on the
sixteenth of July. They a second time barely escaped a wreck on Cape
Fear shoals, but anchored safely at Hatorask, on the twenty-seventh of
the same month. They had been directed by Raleigh to visit Roanoke, and
then proceed to the Chesapeake and there land the colony which they had
transported. The Governor and party landed on Roanoke Island, and
proceeded to the place (probably on the side next the sea) where Sir
Richard Grenville left fifteen men the year previous. They found,
however, only the skeleton of one, who with his companions had probably
been slain by the savages. The next day they repaired to the south end
of the island, where Lane had built his fort and houses. No human being
was to be seen, and thus the fate of the fifteen was confirmed.
The commander of this fleet was Simeon Fernando, a prominent officer in
the two previous expeditions, who no doubt had given satisfaction to
Lane, for his name was given to the fort at Roanoke. But the chronicles,
in this instance, have charged him with treachery, he having refused to
proceed to the Chesapeake. In consequence of this refusal, the colony
remained here, occupying the buildings erected by Lane. The Indians soon
gave proof of hostility by attacking and murdering one of the
assistants. Master Stafford, who had previously been with Lane,
accompanied by the Indian Manteo, (who came with them from England,)
with twenty others, passed over to the mainland, and renewed their
former intercourse with the Indians. The natives claimed to be friendly,
and related how the fifteen were murdered by the tribe that once
inhabited Roanoke. This party again visited the mainland on the ninth of
August, and falling in with a party of natives, whom they supposed to be
hostile, attacked and killed a number, but subsequently learned that
they were of a friendly tribe. On the thirteenth of August Manteo was
christened and announced as Lord of Roanoke, in reward for his faithful
service. How far he understood the meaning or value of the rite, we are
unable to state; but the tendency of the act to influence the natives to
regard the Europeans with more favor, can be readily implied.
The first child of English blood born upon this continent, (August
18th,) was 'Virginia' Dare, a granddaughter of the Governor. At the
expiration of the time when the ships were to return home, it was
thought advisable to send one of the principal men with them to make
sure that supplies should be forwarded by their friends; but so
satisfied were the majority with their present prospects, that it was a
difficult matter to find one willing to go. At the last moment, finding
all else so reluctant to leave, the Governor, John White, decided to
return in person, and sailed, in company with the returning ships, on
the twenty-fifth of August, leaving at Roanoke one hundred and seventeen
persons to an unknown fate. He, with his vessel and her consorts,
arrived safely in England.
The ship in which the Governor embarked, reached England in November,
1587. The succeeding year was, perhaps, as trying for that country as
any it had ever experienced, the fear of the Spanish invasion and its
consequences, being the absorbing theme of public attention. No doubt
White had in view the best interests of his colony; he knew the
condition of the colonists, and that their prosperity and perhaps their
lives depended on his reinforcing them. But the war was imperative, and
demanded the services of all. Raleigh, Lane, and White had important
positions assigned them, and all gained a reputation for valor. It was
not, therefore, till two years later, that White was able to embark for
the colony, and then without either men or provisions; as he expresses
it, 'with only myself and my chest.'
The ships put to sea on the twentieth of March, and lingered among the
West-India Islands till the last of July, when, proceeding on their
voyage, they anchored off old Hatorask Inlet on the fifteenth of August.
Here they descried a great smoke issuing from Roanoke, which gave White
great hopes of meeting the friends he had left three years before. The
party landed with much difficulty, explored the island, and found that
the smoke proceeded from the burning of grass and dead trees. Footprints
of savages were seen in the sand, but to the sound of their voices and
their trumpet-calls there was no response.
Circumnavigating the island, they went to the north end, where a colony
had been left, and where they saw letters cut in the bark of a tree,
indicating that the settlers had gone to Croatan, (Cape Lookout.)
They found the fort deserted and dilapidated, and within it, guns, bars
of iron, and lead, thrown on the ground, with weeds growing over them;
and they afterward discovered buried in a trench, several chests, some
containing property of White, and among it his own armor.
He was now anxious to proceed to Croatan, but a severe storm coming on
compelled the ships, after losing men and anchors, to put to sea. As it
continued, they bore away for home, leaving Roanoke to solitude.
It is probable that the colony found the Indians hostile, and despairing
of relief from home, abandoned the island and proceeded to Croatan,
where they ultimately perished. However, a writer who resided in the
country more than a century after, says there were traditions among a
tribe that inhabited the coast, that their ancestors were white people,
and could talk in a book, and many of the children had gray eyes, which
are never seen among natives of pure blood.
Raleigh is said to have sent three several times to ascertain their
fate, but without any success. In some of the memoirs of the later
Virginia settlements, which have recently been printed, there are
references to persons said to have been recovered from Raleigh's colony
on Roanoke, but they are indirect, and only show that tradition was busy
with their fate. There can be no doubt every soul perished on this
isolated coast.
The ancient history of Roanoke closed with the departure of Raleigh's
last ship, and the natives resumed possession of their favorite spots.
The Chesapeake was entered, and Jamestown settled, in 1607; and although
the bold explorer of the bay and rivers, Captain John Smith, was
desirous of sending a party to look after the lost colony, it was never
done. Years passed away, and the grant of Carolina embraced all the
country once claimed and occupied by Raleigh and his colonists.
In 1653, an adventurer from Virginia, with a small craft, entered
Currituck Inlet and visited Roanoke. Here he found residing a great
Indian chief, with whom he made a treaty of peace and alliance, which
led to a purchase of land and to a long intimacy. A house for the chief
was built like the English dwellings, and his son was confided to the
English to be educated. The young chief embraced Christianity, and was
baptized.
At this time the ruins of Lane's fort were plainly visible, and the
natives were familiar with its history.
The first permanent settlement in what is now North-Carolina, can not be
traced to an earlier date than 1656. It was on the shores of Albermarle
Sound, some forty miles from Roanoke.
Almost coëval with this came small vessels from New-England, to trade,
first for furs and peltry, and soon after to exchange their own
productions and those of the West-Indies for the tobacco, corn, naval
stores, and lumber of the country; and for the succeeding century our
people were almost entirely the merchants and carriers of all this
region. As a consequence some of them permanently settled here, and many
of the merchants of Boston held extensive tracts of land obtained by
grants or purchase.
Our public records contain many references to these, and among others we
find a grant of the Island of Roanoke, as early as 1676, to Joshua Lamb,
of New-England. It would seem that it was then settled, and had houses
and buildings,[P] and probably had been occupied for many years, and
perhaps antedated the settlements before referred to, thus making it the
first place permanently settled in North-Carolina.
In 1785, more than a century after, the following appears in the
inventory of the estate of a resident of Boston:
'In the State of North Carolina--one half of Roanoke Island, valued at
£184 6s. 8d.'
Lawson, the very truthful historian of this country, who wrote about
1700, says:
'A settlement had been begun on that part of Roanoke Island, where
the ruins of a fort are to be seen this day, as well as some old
English coins, which have been lately found, and a brass gun, and
a powder-horn, and one small quarter-deck gun, made of iron
staves, hooped with the same material, which method of making guns
might probably be used in those days for infant colonies.'
In time, the settlers extended over the Island, and slowly and quietly
partially cultivated it. They were from the humblest class. Slavery,
with its consequences, never came here, and the small farms were
'worked' by their owners and their sons.
Many years ago the writer visited Roanoke. It was then, to a great
extent, covered with its original growth of pines and oaks; the whole
population, being only three or four hundred, a simple, industrious
community, who alternated their agricultural labors with fishing in the
adjacent waters, and sometimes navigating their small vessels to
neighboring ports. He then visited the site of Lane's fort, the present
remains of which are very slight, being merely the wreck of an
embankment. This has at times been excavated by parties who hoped to
find some deposit which would repay the trouble, but with little
success, a vial of quicksilver being the only relic said to have been
found. This article was doubtless to be used in discovering deposits of
the precious metals by the old adventurers. While walking through the
lonely forests the mind of the visitor is involuntarily carried back to
the scenes that took place there, as well as to the actors who centuries
ago passed away. Now silence broods over the place once so active with
life, and nothing but nature remains, while the distant surf is ever
sounding an everlasting requiem to the memory of the brave colonists.
If this brief history had been penned a year ago, the task would have
ended here; but Roanoke has now another chapter to add to the annals of
our country. The great rebellion of 1861 had overshadowed the land, and
its instigators were endeavoring to overthrow a Government whose power
had only been felt by them as the dew of heaven, and with as beneficent
results. The authority of Government was called into action, and Roanoke
Island once more felt the tread of armed men. Hatteras Inlet, now the
principal entrance to these sounds, and well fortified by the
insurgents, was in August of 1861, captured by the Federal forces. The
rebels then concentrated at Roanoke, which is the key to Albemarle
Sound, and an important military position. Here they assembled a large
body of troops and erected strong fortifications, deeming themselves
secure against any force that could be sent against them. General
Burnside left the Chesapeake with a large fleet, and having succeeded in
passing Hatteras Inlet and the bars which encircle it, sailed up the
sound and came to anchor off the lower end of the Island on the sixth of
February, 1862.
On the morning of the seventh the fleet under the command of Captain
Goldsborough, attacked that of the enemy, and after a sharp cannonade,
the rebel vessels were, with one exception, captured or destroyed. As
soon as the naval action ceased, General Burnside landed his troops at
the lower part of the island, where they were forced to wade through mud
and water; but nothing could retard the valor of these New-England
soldiers, who, pressing on toward the centre of the Island, carried the
entrenchments and drove the enemy before them. The rebels retreated to
the northern end of the island and surrendered as prisoners of war, in
number about twenty-five hundred men, with all their stores and
implements.
The fleet and army subsequently visited Edenton, Pascotank, the Chowan,
Neuse, and Roanoke rivers, and planted the National flag over
them--visiting nearly the same shores so long ago explored by Lane and
his adventurers, and like him returning victorious to the headquarters
at Roanoke Island.
* * * * *