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People have speculated about the fate of the colonists for over four hundred years. Explore the following ideas and decide which one you think is most likely. Did They Move In with Manteo? Governor John White, Virginia Dare’s grandfather, believed that the colonists found refuge with the Croatoan, led by Manteo, a friend of the colonists. His only reason for believing this was the carving of the word Croatoan on a tree near the edge of the empty fort. Governor White organized a rescue mission in 1590–1591, but severe storms kept the crew from making it to shore. Finally, the storms forced the crew to cut their anchor cables and seek safer seas. Unable to interest anyone in paying for another rescue attempt, Governor White gave up his search and never learned if the colonists had indeed gone to live with the Croatoan. Were They Murdered? The colonists who settled Jamestown in 1607 sent out search parties for the Roanoke colonists and gathered what information they could from American Indians they met on their travels. Powhatan, a powerful Indian leader in the Chesapeake Bay region, told Captain John Smith that he had executed the Roanoke colonists who had been living with the Chesapeake Indians. Other Indians reported that a few English colonists had survived this attack and were living with other tribes. The last search parties, sent out in 1609–1612, learned nothing more about the fate of the colonists and decided that they must have died. Did They Become the Hatteras Indians? John Lawson, explorer, naturalist, and surveyor general of the Carolina colony, traveled extensively throughout North Carolina in the early 1700s. He visited the abandoned fort site on Roanoke and discovered “a brass gun, a powder horn, and one small quarter-deck gun, made of iron . . .” Lawson also visited Hatteras Island, where he met American Indians who he assumed were descendants of the lost colonists. He reported that “These tell us, that several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in a Book as we do; the Truth of which is confirm’d by gray Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others. They value themselves extremely for their Affinity to the English, and are ready to do them all friendly Offices.” Did They Starve to Death? In 1857 historian Francis L. Hawkes criticized the early colonists for being lazy and unmotivated but also believed that the colonists probably would have survived if they had not “been subjected to the horrors of famine.” Later historians, however, point out that in the late 1500s Roanoke Island had plenty of wild game and edible plants, not to mention shellfish and other seafood. Are Their Descendants Lumbee Indians? Oral tradition among the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County maintains that the colonists intermarried with local Indians and migrated to what is now Robeson County. Hamilton MacMillan, a Robeson County resident and supporter of the local Indian community, published this theory and gathered evidence to support it in the late 1880s. He noted many surnames shared by the colonists and Robeson County Indian families. MacMillan also detailed the similarities of local speech and vocabulary to Elizabethan English. Did the Spanish Attack and Capture Them? Writer Robert E. Betts suggested in the 1930s that Spanish soldiers destroyed the colony. “It is possible, judging by the relations between Spain and England at that time, that the colonists were removed to Spain, tried, jailed, or put to death,” he said. Research shows that Spain was worried about reports of English colonies in the late 1500s. Although Spanish seafarers searched for the colony, no proof exists that they ever found it. Did They Drown at Sea? Historians Hugh Talmadge Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, in their 1954 book North Carolina: The History of a Southern State, introduced the theory “that the group, finally despairing for relief, sailed for England in a boat which had been left with them by White in 1587, and were lost in the Atlantic.” Other historians have argued that the colonists did not have a ship large enough to carry the entire company back to England, so some people would have remained on Roanoke. Did They Split Up? Historians in 1959 suggested that some or all of the colonists moved to Croatoan, and some continued on to the Chowan River area or the south side of Chesapeake Bay. It is also possible that some headed south towards Robeson County. Powhatan probably killed many of the colonists, particularly men. American Indians often spared the lives of women and children, integrating them into their communities. Certainly some colonists could have been alive when the English settled Jamestown in 1607. Is Virginia Dare Pocahontas? Is Virginia Dare Pocahontas’s Mother? In 1906 Frances Elizabeth Scott Bagby suggested in an article in Southern Magazine that Powhatan’s forces murdered the colonists but spared the life of Virginia Dare. Powhatan then adopted the child as his own daughter. Some Roanoke Islanders believe that Powhatan not only spared the life Virginia’s mother, Elenor, but married her as well. Their daughter (Virginia’s half sister) was Pocahontas. Novelist Mary Virginia Wall suggested in her 1908 book, The Daughter of Virginia Dare, that Powhatan captured and married Virginia Dare, who died in giving birth to Pocahontas. What do you think? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________
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