Roanoke: A Colony. A Word. A Vanishing.Episode 31:32
The Baby Born Inside a Failing Colony
Virginia Dare is born into a settlement already threatened by violence, hunger, winter, and the departure of her grandfather.
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Transcript
At the abandoned entrance, one carved word marked a chief post: CROATOAN.
In July 1587, 118 colonists reached Roanoke, bound for Chesapeake Bay.
Governor John White had daughter Eleanor Dare and granddaughter Virginia Dare.
George Howe was ambushed and killed shortly after the colonists arrived.
The colonists attacked what they thought was Secotan; it was Croatoan. One colonist lowered his weapon as the mistake became clear.
August 1587: Virginia Dare, first English child born in the New World.
Briefly, the settlement had a child, family, and future to defend.
Then a major drought hit the Outer Banks in 1587 and lasted three years.
The drought left Algonquian people without enough food to trade.
Attack threats, unreliable food, and winter's approach forced White to seek England's help.
White left in late August after spending slightly more than a month on Roanoke Island.
White told distressed colonists leaving to carve a cross over the destination.
White reported that no cross or sign of distress appeared with CROATOAN.
Before leaving, colonists agreed to carve their destination in nearby trees if they moved.
Where it leaves off
But the carved promise depended on White's return, and after he reached England, he would not get back to Roanoke until 1590.
Sources
- John White Returns to Roanoke; an excerpt from "The fift voyage of Master John White into the West Indies and parts of America called Virginia, in the yeere 1590" (1600) - Encyclopedia Virginiaencyclopediavirginia.orgprimary
- 1587: The Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- The Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
- Roanoke Colony - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgsecondary
- Newfound survivor camp may explain fate of the famed Lost Colony of Roanoke | National Geographicnationalgeographic.comsecondary
- Major Theories of the Lost Colony - Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)nps.govsecondary
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