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Roanoke: The Lost Colony - Part 2

© Jeannine Dugan

In early 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh was raising funds and goods to establish a permanent settlement in Virginia (an area which, at that time, encompassed all English possessions in the New World.) Despite the failure of Grenville and Lane's attempts at colonization, Raleigh felt that a settlement of English colonists could succeed if the right location and people were chosen. Therefore, he planned to settle families of colonists, instead of soldiers, in a large bay north of Roanoke Island known as Chesepiock or, as it is now known, the Chesapeake Bay.

On January 7, 1587, a charter for the City of Raleigh in Virginia established a body to govern the colony, consisting of Governor John White and twelve assistants. Only one Assistant, Simao Fernandes, had ever been to Roanoke. Manteo, the Croatoan native, also returned with White on this expedition. The other settlers included 85 men, 17 women (two of whom were pregnant) and 11 children. On May 5, 1587, the ships departed England and were almost immediately beset by misfortune. One smaller ship was separated from the group during a storm off the coast of Portugal. White and Fernandes began to quarrel almost immediately, with Fernandes unwilling to stop at any Caribbean islands for White to acquire salt or tropical plants. In July, the ships reached Roanoke where White and the colonists prepared to go ashore. They planned to find the 15 men left by Grenville and to continue on to the Chesapeake Bay. However, once off the ship, Fernandes informed the colonists he would not be continuing on to the Chesapeake Bay as it was too late in the season and he needed to return to England.

With this unfavorable beginning, the colonists began rebuilding fortifications on an island deemed unfit for habitation. They found the remains of one Englishman but there was no sign of the other fourteen soldiers left by Grenville. A few days after landing, one settler was attacked and killed by the local Roanoac tribe. White set out to repair relations with the Croatoans and to secure their assistance in establishing peace with the Roanoacs. When a week went by and neither the Croatoans nor the Roanoacs kept their promised meeting, White decided to teach them a lesson. Early in the morning, White's men attacked the sleeping village and began to slaughter the unsuspecting Roanoacs. Only when they saw a woman with child did they realize they were attacking the peaceful Croatoans, who had traveled northward for their meeting with White. The Indians forgave White his error, but relations between the colonists and the Natives would never be one based on trust.

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