The Croatoans and the Missing Roanoke Colony ( I )

Roanoke Island Chosen for Colonization

In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched an expedition piloted by Simon Fernandez, a Portuguese pilot familiar with America’s eastern coast, in an attempt to find a suitable location to establish an English settlement. Roanoke Island of North Carolina was ultimately chosen. Roanoke Island, lying between the treacherous Outer Banks and the mainland, is characterized by abundant wildlife, marshlands and oaks.

First Roanoke Colony Effort

In the spring of 1585, Raleigh dispatched a host of mostly veteran soldiers to begin colonization of Roanoke. Ralph Lane and Richard Greenville led the expedition. While exploring the surrounding coast they accused natives in the village of Aquascogoc of stealing a silver cup. In retaliation, they sacked and burned the village, executing the tribal chief by fire.

The expedition landed on Roanoke Island on August 17, and shortly thereafter Greenville left Lane with about 75 men to establish the colony, promising to return by April 1586 with reinforcements and supplies. In June the settlers were inadvertently rescued by Sir Francis Drake and they left Roanoke Island to return to England. Greenville's ship arrived about two weeks later. Finding the Roanoke colony abandoned, he left behind fifteen men to protect Raleigh’s patent requiring continuous occupancy of the island.

Second Roanoke Colony Effort

In 1587, Raleigh dispatched a group of 117 colonists led by John White who’d served on the previous Roanoke Island expedition. Raleigh had since decided the Chesapeake Bay area would make a better location, and to recruit settlers he promised each 500 acres of land and involvement in the colony’s government. White brought 91 men, 17 women, and 9 children.

On July 22, the colonists disembarked at Roanoke Island expecting to find the fifteen men Greenville left behind the previous year. Instead they found the bones of only one man apparently killed by Indians. Lane’s fort was charred but the houses were intact. White noticed the Indians were more hostile than before. But Fernandez (the pilot of previous expeditions) had reportedly grown impatient and refused to guide them further. For whatever reason, they stayed on Roanoke Island. White successfully re-established relations with the neighboring Croatoans and tried unsuccessfully re-establishing relations with the tribes Lane had attacked.

Then a Roanoke colonist named George Howe was killed by natives. The Croatoans accused a neighboring tribe, saying they’d killed Greenville’s soldiers as well. On Aug 8, an attack was launched at the accused Indian settlement but the English attackers found only Croatoans who’d come to forage after the accused Indians fled.

On August 18, White’s daughter Eleanor gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas. Ananias Dare was a bricklayer in London before the expedition. Little else is known of him.

Fearing retaliation for Ralph Lane’s treatment of the natives, the Roanoke colonists persuaded White to return to England for help. They’d discussed moving the colony inland so a code was established; if they moved, they’d carve their new location in a conspicuous place. If under attack by either Spaniards or Indians they were to carve a Maltese cross.