cup, but upon being apprehended, promised to return it. The promised restoration was delayed, and in retaliation the men under Grenville "burnt and spoiled their corn and towne, all the people being fled." This act of hasty revenge was undoubtedly the first which tended to arouse uneasy and suspicious thoughts in the Indians as to the intentions of the white man.* During his short stay in the colony, Grenville collected a cargo of pearls and skins, and then having seen that the colonists were fairly well situated, he returned to England, on the way capturing a richly laden Spanish ship," boarding her with a boat made with boards of chests, which fell asunder and sank at the ship's side, as soon as ever he and his men were out of it." Upon his return to Plymouth with his prize, he was given a warm reception. After Grenville had sailed, Lane decided to undertake the exploration of the surrounding territory, and in 1586 ascended the Roanoke in search of a place at which he had been informed he might secure pearls and a great quantity of mineral treasures. This adventure, however, resulted in disaster to Lane and his party. The current was so rapid that the boats. made little progress; provisions became scarce and the banks were so barren as to furnish little shelter, and furthermore, the Indians began *See Bancroft, vol. i., p. 72. to form secret combinations against them, not only to hinder their progress but also to get rid of them entirely, if possible. However, Lane's companions agreed that they would not abandon the enterprise while even a half pint of corn remained to each man, and furthermore they decided that if matters came to such a pass that it was necessary to live upon flesh they would kill their "two mastives, upon the pottage of which, with sassafras leaves - if the worst fell out- they would make shift to live two dayes." Their worst fears were realized, for they were suddenly attacked by the Indians. Their "dogg's porridge that they had bespoken for themselves " was entirely consumed, and having found upon their return to the river's mouth that they could not cross the sound because of a storm " on Easter Eve, which was fasted very truly," they were now reduced to the sassafras without the animal seasoning," the like whereof," observes Lane, "was never before used for a meate as I thinke." Famished and dispirited, the party arrived at Roanoke the next morning.* Immediately upon his arrival, Thomas Hariot bent all his efforts to obtain a correct knowledge of the country, the people, their productions, customs, government, etc., and being a most acute observer, his *Stith, History of Virginia, gives an excellent account of Lane's journeys. SETTLEMENT AT ROANOKE ABANDONED. efforts were rewarded with a vast amount of knowledge concerning these things. In his intercourse with the savages he also endeavored to Christianize them. To use his own language, "Most things they saw with us, as mathamaticall instruments, sea-compasses, the vertue of the loadstone, perspective glasses, burning glasses, clocks to goe of themselves, bookes, writing, guns, and such like, so far exceeded their capacities, that they thought they were rather the workes of gods than men, or at least the gods had taught us how to make them, which loved us so much better than them; and caused many of them to give credit to what we spake concerning our God. In all places where I came, I did my best to make His immortall glory knowne; and I told them, although the Bible I shewed them contained all, yet of itselfe, it was not of any such vertue as I thought they did conceive. Notwithstanding, many would be glad to touch it, to kisse and embrace it, to hold it to their breasts and heads and stroke all their body over with it.” * But Hariot was almost alone among the colonists in matters of piety and prudence, as the majority of them were concerned primarily with the means of gaining wealth. Failing in this and imputing to the Indians a desire to hide their treasures, the colonists in their vexation began to deal very harshly with the natives, who, in retaliation, began to devise means for ridding the country of the new settlers. They first began by an attempt to starve out the English, refusing to give them corn and other supplies and even going so far as to stop planting the fields so that * Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 324. See also Bancroft, vol. i., p. 72 et seq. 145 the English could not seize the crops. In his anger at the success of the Indians in withholding supplies, Lane sought an interview with the most powerful of the chiefs and after they had come together treacherously murdered all within his reach.* All the provisions which the colonists had brought with them from England had now been consumed, and as the fields had not been planted, they were reduced to very great. straits. But fortunately, as they were about to embark for home, Sir Francis Drake appeared on the scene with his fleet, being on his way home from an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies. The wants of the settlers were fully supplied by Drake, who even gave Lane a bark of 70 tons with suitable boats, and did everything in his power to continue the colony on a prosperous career. The vessel which Drake left, however, was shortly after destroyed by a sudden storm, and Lane and his companions, being now thoroughly discontented and despondent, begged Drake to take them home with him. Drake complied with their wishes, and on June 18, 1586, the settlement at Roanoke was abandoned.+ Doyle, English Colonies in America, vol. i., pp. 65-67. † Hawks, History of North Carolina (1857); Hale (ed.), Archæologia Americana, vol. iv. (1860); J. A. Froude, English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, pp. 146-147; Payne, Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen, 1st series, p. 269 et seq.; Hume, History of England, vol. iv., Pp. 210211; M. A. Thomson, Life and Times of Sir Walter Raleigh, pp. 32-33, 50-55; Southey, The abandonment of the colony was not only too precipitate, but also unfortunate, for hardly had the colonists departed when a ship laden with stores sent out by Raleigh arrived at Roanoke. Finding the settlement abandoned, however, the ship returned home. Sir Richard Grenville also appeared within less than two weeks with three ships well furnished which had been sent in search of the colonists. Not being able to locate the colonists, Grenville thereupon set 50 men on the island of on the island of Roanoke with two years' provisions to establish a new settlement and then returned home.* While thus far the "Paradise of the World" had been little less than an expense and disappointment, Raleigh was not of that character which yields to the first setback. Hariot's descriptions of the country and its productions, climate, soil, etc., made it comparatively easy to organize a new. band of colonists for a settlement in America, and in 1587 Raleigh determined that an enduring state should be founded. He therefore organized a number of emigrants with their wives and families, for the purpose of establishing homes in the New World. John White was appointed to the governorship of the new colony to be Chronological History of the West Indies, vol. i., pp. 203-208; Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbours, vol. i., pp. 32-33; Osgood, American Colonies, vol. i., pp. 17-20. Bancroft, Fiske and Doyle say fifteen; but Smith, and others, fifty. The latter seems the more probable number. founded; municipal regulations were formulated for the conduct of civil affairs, and a charter was granted to thirty-two persons, of whom nineteen were merchants of London, who financed the expedition, and the other thirteen were to come personally. The company was styled "The Governor and Assistants of the City of Raleigh in Virginia.”* Accordingly, the expedition embarked from Portsmouth on April 26 and nearly three months later, on July 22, anchored off the coast of Virginia. Immediately after their arrival they made a thorough search for the men who had been left a year before at Roanoke, Lut the search was unsuccessful as the Indians had undoubtedly wreaked their vengeance upon them. The former habitation of the colonists was a scene of desolation and ruin.+ Chesapeake Bay had been designated under Raleigh's instructions as the site for the new settlement, but dissensions shortly arising among the colonists White was prevented from proceeding any further, and consequently the foundations of the proposed city were laid on the island of Roanoke. While Manteo with his kindred bade the English welcome, the largest portion of the Indian population were decidedly hostile. Deeming it impossible to make much progress under such circumstances, a majority of the colonists petitioned *Thomas Nelson Page, The Old Dominion: Her Making and Her Manners, p. 53 (1908). Bancroft, vol. i., p. 75. VIRGINIA DARE; ROANOKE ABANDONED. White to return to England and secure for the colony abundant supplies and reinforcements. He therefore decided to go, and leaving his family and the colony which at that time numbered 89 men, 17 women and 11 children, White on August 27 embarked for his native land. On August 18, only a few days before White sailed, Mrs. Eleanor Dare, the daughter of the governor, gave birth to a daughter who was the first child born of English parentage on the soil of the United States. She was named Virginia Dare.* 147 1588, to fit out two vessels with supplies, but instead of following their instructions the ship's company became imbued with piratical notions, and rather than follow a straight course to Virginia they went out of their way to engage in privateering. But like many who diverge from the path of duty, they were so worsted in an engagement that they were compelled to return to port, and thus the colony in Virginia was virtually abandoned.* This delay was fatal to the colony, for as Raleigh was nearly bankrupt by the outlays to which he When White arrived in England had been subjected, he was unable to he found the country in a tumult be- do anything further at this time and cause of the threatened invasion of it was not until 1590 that White was Philip of Spain and his Invincible able to return to Virginia in search Armada. The Armada proved not to of the family and the colony that he be so formidable as was expected, and had left. Upon his return he found after a severe battle in which the Roanoke little better than a desert, Spanish were worsted the Armada and the only trace of the colony rewas scattered by a hurricane and maining was the word "Croatan," many of the vessels lost. Of the 131 on the bark of a tree. It has been vessels which started 72 were lost thought that the ill-fated colonists and of the 30,000 mariners and sailtook refuge with Manteo and his peoever than 20,000 perished.† ple, but nothing has While the greater part of Raleigh's brought to light to prove what was time was taken up by his duties contheir fate.t nected with repulsing the Armada, he did not entirely lose sight of his colEven amidst his engrossing cares at home he managed in April, ors ony. more * Ibid., pp. 76–77. See J. A. Froude, English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century, pp. 176-206; Corbett, Drake and the Tudor Navy; Froude, The Spanish Story of the Armada; Hume, History of England, vol. iv., pp. 259-264. been In his efforts at colonization Raleigh had now expended nearly £40,000-a sum equal to $1,000,000 of our present day money and he Stith, History of Virginia, p. 25; Page, The Old Dominion, p. 25. Page, The Old Dominion, p. 70 et seq.; Strachey, Travayle into Virginia Britannia, in Publications of the Hakluyt Society, p. 26; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 77. was unwilling to plunge himself further in debt. In March, 1589, therefore, he assigned his proprietary rights in the territory of the colony to Richard Hakluyt, John White, Sir Thomas Smith and several other London merchants, and thenceforth devoted his time to other schemes, among which was that for penetrating into the heart of Guiana, by which he hoped to repair his shattered fortunes.* Raleigh's successors, the London Company, did not succeed in their attempts to induce colonists to go to Virginia, and being unable to effect any settlement in the New World, simply confined their efforts to carrying on a small and not very profitable trade by the aid of a few vessels. In 1603, therefore, more than one hundred years after Cabot had discovered the continent and twenty years after Raleigh had sent out his first colony, not a single Englishman remained in the New World. In 1602 Raleigh sent out a vessel under Samuel Marc† in an attempt to locate some of the colonists, but this, See Lives of Raleigh by Thomas Birch (1751), Cayley (1805), Edward Edwards (1868), Frederick A. Ober (1909), William Oldys (1736), J. A. St. John (1868), William Stebbing (1891). See also M. A. S. Hume, Sir Walter Raleigh: the British Dominion of the West (1897); Morris, Discoverers and Explorers of America, pp. 166175. For the discovery of Guiana see Payne, Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen, 2d series, pp. 169-272. See also Southey's West Indies, vol. i., p. 218 et seq.; Hume's History of England, vol. iv., pp. 448-452; Thomson's Raleigh, pp. 213235. + Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1653. like White's attempt, was made in vain. In 1602, the last year of Elizabeth's reign, an expedition was organized by Bartholomew Gosnold, who had obtained the financial backing of Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, and Lord Cobham. Setting out in a small vessel and taking a more direct course to Virginia than that usually followed-by way of the Canaries and the West Indies-he reached the coast of Massachusetts in less than seven weeks, first touching land near Nahant. He did not disembark here, however, but sailed further to the South in search of a better harbor, and in the course of time came to the promontory which has since been called Cape Cod - the first place touched in New England Gosnold sailed by the English.* around Cape Cod, passed Nantucket, and then entered Buzzard's Bay which was called Gosnold's Hope. It was then determined to settle on the westernmost of the islands in the bay which was named Elizabeth in honor of the queen. On a rocky islet in the centre of a small lake of fresh water, a store house and a fort were built. Although they were delighted with the scenery of the country, the abundance of wild grapes and strawberries, and the luxuriant vegetation of the early summer, they considered it most advisable, because of their few numbers, the lack of provisions *Bancroft, vol. i., p. 80. |
