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The Baptism of Virginia Dare imagined long after the fact. No clergy accompanied the settlers and whatever
dwelling they may have been able to erect in the scant time since landing in
July, 1587, it was surely not so solid an edifice as this.
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On August 18, 1587 Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island, one
of the Outer Bank Islands off the
coast of what is now North Carolina in
a fledgling colony underwritten by
adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh.
Her mother Eleanor was one of 17
women who had made the hazardous Atlantic
crossing and was the daughter of the man assigned by Raleigh to establish
the colony, John White. And that is all we really know about
her.
When her grandfather made his long delayed return to the settlement exactly
three years later on August 18, 1590, he discovered the settlement abandoned
with no sign of a struggle. In fact the
palisade and buildings had been carefully dismantled, indicating a planned
move. A Maltese cross that was
supposed to be carved on a designated tree in as a distress signal in case the
colonists had to flee hostile natives was not in evidence.
The only other clue to the fate of the inhabitants was the word Croatoan carved into a post of the fort
and “Cro” carved into a nearby tree.
Croatoan was the name of a local tribe of southern Algonquin speakers with whom friendly relations had been
established in earlier attempts to found the colony. Their main village known to the English was
on another barrier island, but the crew of the privateer on which White had hitched a ride refused to continue the
search for them.
White had to return to England with no knowledge of the fate of his colony,
daughter and grand daughter. Subsequent
attempts to locate the survivors—if there were any—or to find any evidence of
their fate turned up only rumor and speculation.
The fate of the Lost Colony of
Roanoke and of young Virginia Dare became one of the great mysteries of American history and the basis of
countless myths, tall tales, and what we today would call conspiracy
theories.
The short lived colony had its origins in a favor granted by Queen Elizabeth I to a court favorite,
the dashing and handsome Raleigh, just the type to catch the Virgin Queen’s eye. She granted him a Charter to establish a colony in the lands north of Spanish Florida which had been
designated as Virginia. The Charter required that Raleigh establish a
permanent colony within ten years or lose his rights.
Raleigh intended his proposed
colony to trade with the natives and hopefully find gold or silver, but
primarily to establish a base from which privateers could prey upon rich
Spanish shipping. In other words it was
to become a base for gentlemen pirates willing to cut the Queen in on their
loot.
Although he never personally went
to Virginia, Raleigh wasted no time in establishing his claim. In 1584 he
dispatched Phillip Amadas and
Arthur Barlowe to explore the east coast for likely locations. They returned with a recommendation for the
Outer Banks islands, whose sheltered waters would be ideal for launching
adventures against the Spanish. They had
also established relations with the Croatoan who they described as
friendly.
The following year Raleigh sent Sir
Richard Grenville with a party of all male colonizers made up mainly of
soldiers who had recently campaigned in Ireland. The martial make-up of this group betrayed
its intentions. Unfortunately, most of
the colony’s provisions were ruined when the main ship ran into a reef and
sprang a leak. Worse, while exploring
the mainland shore they encountered non-Croatoan natives who they accused of
steeling a sliver goblet. In retaliation
the men sacked and burned the village and executed the local chief by burning
him. This earned the natural enmity of
many natives.
Despite these problems Grenville decided to leave a skeleton colony of 75
men under Ralph Lane on the north
end of Roanoke Island to enforce Raleigh’s claim. He set sail with bulk of his men for England
with a promise to return with reinforcements and provisions. The promise relief date of April 1586 came
and went without a sign of Grenville.
When Sir Francis Drake, on his
way back to England after successfully plundering the Caribbean happened upon them in June, they eagerly accepted his
offer a ride back to England.
Grenville’s re-supply expedition arrived soon after to find the little
colony abandoned. Frustrated Grenville
left a handful of men and returned to report the failure.
Next time Raleigh sent 117 settlers, including women and children under the
command of his good friend White, an artist who had been on both of the earlier
voyages and knew the area. White got his
colony off to a good start. He re-established
relations with the friendly Croatoan, but was rebuffed by the mainland tribes
still angry over Lane’s depredations. They killed one settler as he was
crabbing alone in Albemarle Sound. Fearing for their safety should the mainland
tribes attack, the colonists persuaded White to return with the ship that
brought them to beg for reinforcements and protection.
The series of unforeseen circumstances that would so long delay White’s
return began with the late season crossing which was beset by gales. The ship’s pilot declared that it had barely
survived to reach port. After White
hastily gathered supplies and men, the Captain refused to make an even more
dangerous winter crossing back. Come
spring the threat of the Spanish Armada caused
every sea-worthy ship in England to be impressed into service. White found two small coastal ships
considered unfit for naval use. But
their captains decided to try their hand a privateering along the way and got
captured by the Spanish, who confiscated their supplies but allowed them to return
empty to England. The war with Spain
kept White from mounting another expedition.
In desperation in the spring of 1590 he signed on a privateer planning to
raid in the Caribbean whose captain promised to stop by Roanoke on the trip
back to England. White would come nearly
empty handed, but he would come. And be
bitterly disappointed.
Theories about the fate of the vanished colonists have led to wild
speculation over the years. At one point
it was suggested that the Mandan, a
tribe on the upper Missouri with
whom Lewis and Clark over-wintered
in 1803, were the decedents of the Roanoke people based on their pale
complexions in comparison to other natives and the presence of some people
among them with blue eyes. Other lost
“white” tribes were reported, or rumored across the east from as far north as Maine to the swamps of Florida.
And there were occasional possible sightings of survivors or
descendents. In 1609 settlers from Jamestown relayed reports at that “four
men and a maid” were living among the Iroquoian speaking Tuscarora, likely the hostile mainland tribe that Lane
encountered. But Chief Wahunsunacock, known to history as Powhatan allegedly told Jamestown’s Captain John Smith that he had wiped out the survivors shortly
before near modern day Hampton Roads because
they were living with a people who refused to join his growing
confederacy. He allegedly showed Smith
English made iron trinkets to prove his story.
Yet another story tells of early
settlers in Person County, North Carolina years later encountering fair skinned natives
who spoke some English and had knowledge of “our Lord, Jesus Christ.” Most scholars, however believe this group was
an offshoot of the Saponi people who
may have encountered—and slept with—English privateers or other visiting
seamen.
Other theories, not widely credenced, are that the settlers used wood from
their dismantled village to build boats for an ill-advised and doomed attempt
to reach England on their own or that they were found and massacred by the
Spanish. Most scholars today believe
that they were either absorbed by the friendly Croatoan or captured and
enslaved by the Tuscarora.
In 1998 some confirmation of the theory that they lived among the Croatoan
was uncovered by archeologists from East Carolina University who uncovered
a gold 16th century English signet ring,
gun flints, and two 16th century copper
farthings at the site of the ancient Croatoan capital, 50 miles from the
colony. The ring has been identified
with Master Kendall who is recorded
as having lived in the Ralph Lane colony on Roanoke Island from 1585 to
1586. But they don’t provide a link to
the later colony and could have been acquired by trade.
Some believe that the ongoing Lost
Colony DNA Project founded by a group led by Roberta Estes in
2005, will solve the mystery by doing DNA testing of long residents of the area
who claim Native American ancestry and whose families have long lived near
Croatoan or other known sites. They also
plan to trace family names in the area, some of which correspond to names found
among the Roanoke settlers. They are
attempting to re-construct possible family lines. The work is not yet conclusive and is ongoing. Maybe, just maybe they will find a descendent
of Virginia Dare.
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