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Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony
In telling the tragic and heroic story of Roanoke, the "lost colony," award-winning historian Karen Ordahl Kupperman recovers the earliest days of English exploration and settlement in America--the often forgotten years before Jamestown and the landing of the Mayflower. Roanoke explores Britain's attempt to establish a firm claim to North America in the hope that colonies would make England wealthy and powerful. Kupperman brings to life the men and women who struggled to carve out a settlement in an inhospitable environment on the Carolina coast and the complex Native American cultures they encountered. She reveals the mixture of goals and challenges that led to the colony's eventual abandonment, and discusses the theories about what might have become of the first English settlers in the New World as they adapted to life as Indians. With a new preface and afterword written by the author, Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony brings the fascinating story of America's earliest settlement up-to-date, bringing together new work from scholars in a variety of fields. The story of Roanoke remains endlessly fascinating. It is a tale marked by courage, miscalculation, exhilaration, intrigue, and mystery.
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First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Karen Ordahl Kupperman
29 books14 followersKaren Ordahl Kupperman is an American historian who specializes in colonial history in the Atlantic world of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
She was born in North Dakota, but moved often during her childhood. She studied History at the University of Missouri, after which she obtained a prestigious Woodrow Wilson fellowship and attended Harvard University, graduating with a MA in 1962. She later attended the University of Cambridge to earn her PhD.
She was born in North Dakota, but moved often during her childhood. She studied History at the University of Missouri, after which she obtained a prestigious Woodrow Wilson fellowship and attended Harvard University, graduating with a MA in 1962. She later attended the University of Cambridge to earn her PhD.
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October 27, 2023
Roanoke Island is a mystical and haunted place – because that beautiful little island at the upper end of North Carolina’s Outer Banks is home to a still-unsolved historical mystery. Visit the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site at the north end of the island, and you have the opportunity to learn about the “lost colony” of English men, women, and children who built a colonial settlement there in 1587, but had vanished without trace by the time their long-delayed relief expedition from England arrived at the site in 1590.
The story of the “lost colony” of Roanoke Island is well-known in American history and folklore. Yet a clear-eyed look at the sad history of the Roanoke Colony reminds one that the “lost colony” was not lost so much as it was abandoned – a fact that historian Karen Ordahl Kupperman emphasizes in the title of her 1984 book Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony.
Kupperman, a professor of history at New York University, has focused in her scholarship on the colonial American experience, and Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony was one of her earlier explorations of that line of research. From the beginning of the book, Kupperman focuses on a 16th-century England that was trying to improve its position vis-à-vis its rival and enemy, Spain. A military colony on the North American coast seemed like a useful step toward that end, particularly as a support for the privateering through which English ships preyed on the Spanish treasure fleets that annually brought gold, silver, and jewels from the Latin American colonies to Spain.
The Roanoke Colony is of course forever associated with Sir Walter Raleigh, the dashing courtier and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. A true Renaissance man, Raleigh had an inexhaustible thirst for adventure and hunger for knowledge. Those characteristics, combined with his hopes of gaining wealth and glory through serving England and foiling Spain, helped make him an early organizer and champion of the Roanoke Island colonial venture, and of two separate attempts to establish a Roanoke Colony in 1585 and 1587.
Aiding Raleigh in this venture were redoubtable figures like Thomas Hariot – the English scientist who traveled to Roanoke Island on the 1585 voyage, and whose Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588) was one of the first works about America published in England – and John White, an artistically talented colonial leader who led the 1587 expedition. Through a close reading of the work of Hariot and White, Kupperman provides a perceptive look at English perceptions of the Carolina Algonquian culture at the time of the Roanoke voyages:
The English audience would have approved much about the Indian culture White and Hariot described, particularly the regulation of each person’s position in the society by public marks. English citizens in Elizabethan times showed by their clothing and hairstyle, as well as special badges, their place of origin, occupation, and marital and social status. They expected to be able to tell at a glance the positions of the people with whom they dealt. These public marks were also meant to keep categories stable, to prevent people from sliding over into a status they did not deserve….That Indian culture also regulated relationships and status in this way made it worthier of respect, more recognizable as a real society. (p. 50)
Unfortunately for the Roanoke Colony, not all of the English who encountered the Carolina Algonquians possessed the curiosity, the open-mindedness, or the capacity for observation of Hariot or White. Ralph Lane, who commanded the first soldiers-only Roanoke Island expedition in 1585, was a veteran of Elizabeth’s Irish wars; he firmly believed that the way to secure the cooperation of an indigenous people was to intimidate them through threats and (when necessary) violence.
But Lane’s approach didn’t work in Ireland, and it didn’t work in the Roanoke Island region, either. After a year of diminishing food supplies and increasing conflict with the Algonquians, Lane and his soldier-colonists accepted a “ride home” with Sir Francis Drake in June 1586. But, as Kupperman points out, Lane had already thoroughly poisoned English-Algonquian relations for the 1587 colonists – men, women, and children – who would constitute the “lost colony”:
There would be no grace period during which Indians and English would learn about each other. Each side thought it knew very well the values and intentions of the other. Though the final colony was completely different in goals and personnel, it carried the legacy of Lane’s military colony and the privateering connection on its back. That inheritance haunted all the efforts associated with this colony and eventually destroyed it. (p. 105)
The people of the new Roanoke Colony, from the moment of their arrival in July of 1587, intended to stay, to build new lives. They hoped to raise their children in North America – children like Virginia Dare, the first known example of an English child born in the New World. They also sought to cultivate better relations with the Algonquians. But when the same problems that had plagued the 1585 colony – resource scarcity and Algonquian hostility – faced the new colony as well, John White left with the English fleet in August of 1587, at the behest of the colonists themselves, to see to their relief and resupply from England.
But that relief and resupply, in part because of the Spanish Armada’s 1588 attack against England, was delayed for three years. “In fact, the colonists were never to be seen again by any European; they were lost from this time forward. All ventures were risky in the extreme, because the margin between success and failure was paper thin. In the case of the final Roanoke colony, all the chances went against them rather than for them” (p. 122).
When the relief expedition finally arrived at Roanoke Island in 1590, and the Roanoke colonists were gone, that by itself did not necessarily constitute cause for alarm. The famous carving of the word CROATOAN on an entrance post to the village (the word “Croatoan” a reference to what we now call Hatteras Island) was there for the most practical of reasons: White and the other colonists had planned “to carve on trees or doorposts the name of the place where they had moved so that, when he came with supplies, he would be able to find them. Further, they were to carve a Maltese cross over the name if they left in distress, and there was no cross!” (p. 131) The Roanoke colonists, in short, did not hurry away for fear of their lives; nor were they killed in a sudden massacre. They chose to leave.
And unfortunately, we will probably never know the final fate of the lost Roanoke colonists – for powerful storms forced the ships away from Roanoke Island, and the storms' damage to the ships was severe enough that the expedition’s leaders felt there was no choice but to return to England. As a number of commentators have pointed out, the Lost Colony was lost largely because efforts to find the lost colonists were few, far-between, and inadequate.
In a thoughtful concluding chapter, Kupperman compares the failure of the Roanoke Colony in 1587 with the success of the Jamestown Colony 20 years later in 1607. The two colonies, she suggests, were as different as the two men most strongly associated with each – Sir Walter Raleigh on the one hand, and Captain John Smith on the other. “Raleigh,” Kupperman suggests, “was the archetype of the swashbuckling aristocrat, searching for gain and glory together” (p. 168). For Raleigh and many of his contemporaries, a colony was little more than a convenient base for privateering, and the goods to be searched out in the American wilderness were gold and silver and precious jewels that could make one rich immediately.
Captain John Smith could not have been more different. A “self-made man” and “survival expert” who “never troubled to conceal his contempt for the tender young gentlemen [of Jamestown] who did not know how to save themselves” (p. 169), Smith had gotten his education through his travel through and residence in the many countries where he fought in various wars. He was impatient with the search for precious metals and gems, and thought that the best thing a successful colony could do was become self-sufficient, as quickly as possible, through the cultivation of marketable goods – like tobacco, for example.
Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony conveys in a brisk and succinct manner this tragic and puzzling chapter from the epic of English America’s beginnings. One finishes this brisk, succinct, detail-rich book with an appreciation for Kupperman’s gifts as an historian – and with a lingering wish that somehow, someday, some latter-day historical detective might at last ferret out a solution to the mystery of the Lost Colony.
The story of the “lost colony” of Roanoke Island is well-known in American history and folklore. Yet a clear-eyed look at the sad history of the Roanoke Colony reminds one that the “lost colony” was not lost so much as it was abandoned – a fact that historian Karen Ordahl Kupperman emphasizes in the title of her 1984 book Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony.
Kupperman, a professor of history at New York University, has focused in her scholarship on the colonial American experience, and Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony was one of her earlier explorations of that line of research. From the beginning of the book, Kupperman focuses on a 16th-century England that was trying to improve its position vis-à-vis its rival and enemy, Spain. A military colony on the North American coast seemed like a useful step toward that end, particularly as a support for the privateering through which English ships preyed on the Spanish treasure fleets that annually brought gold, silver, and jewels from the Latin American colonies to Spain.
The Roanoke Colony is of course forever associated with Sir Walter Raleigh, the dashing courtier and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. A true Renaissance man, Raleigh had an inexhaustible thirst for adventure and hunger for knowledge. Those characteristics, combined with his hopes of gaining wealth and glory through serving England and foiling Spain, helped make him an early organizer and champion of the Roanoke Island colonial venture, and of two separate attempts to establish a Roanoke Colony in 1585 and 1587.
Aiding Raleigh in this venture were redoubtable figures like Thomas Hariot – the English scientist who traveled to Roanoke Island on the 1585 voyage, and whose Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588) was one of the first works about America published in England – and John White, an artistically talented colonial leader who led the 1587 expedition. Through a close reading of the work of Hariot and White, Kupperman provides a perceptive look at English perceptions of the Carolina Algonquian culture at the time of the Roanoke voyages:
The English audience would have approved much about the Indian culture White and Hariot described, particularly the regulation of each person’s position in the society by public marks. English citizens in Elizabethan times showed by their clothing and hairstyle, as well as special badges, their place of origin, occupation, and marital and social status. They expected to be able to tell at a glance the positions of the people with whom they dealt. These public marks were also meant to keep categories stable, to prevent people from sliding over into a status they did not deserve….That Indian culture also regulated relationships and status in this way made it worthier of respect, more recognizable as a real society. (p. 50)
Unfortunately for the Roanoke Colony, not all of the English who encountered the Carolina Algonquians possessed the curiosity, the open-mindedness, or the capacity for observation of Hariot or White. Ralph Lane, who commanded the first soldiers-only Roanoke Island expedition in 1585, was a veteran of Elizabeth’s Irish wars; he firmly believed that the way to secure the cooperation of an indigenous people was to intimidate them through threats and (when necessary) violence.
But Lane’s approach didn’t work in Ireland, and it didn’t work in the Roanoke Island region, either. After a year of diminishing food supplies and increasing conflict with the Algonquians, Lane and his soldier-colonists accepted a “ride home” with Sir Francis Drake in June 1586. But, as Kupperman points out, Lane had already thoroughly poisoned English-Algonquian relations for the 1587 colonists – men, women, and children – who would constitute the “lost colony”:
There would be no grace period during which Indians and English would learn about each other. Each side thought it knew very well the values and intentions of the other. Though the final colony was completely different in goals and personnel, it carried the legacy of Lane’s military colony and the privateering connection on its back. That inheritance haunted all the efforts associated with this colony and eventually destroyed it. (p. 105)
The people of the new Roanoke Colony, from the moment of their arrival in July of 1587, intended to stay, to build new lives. They hoped to raise their children in North America – children like Virginia Dare, the first known example of an English child born in the New World. They also sought to cultivate better relations with the Algonquians. But when the same problems that had plagued the 1585 colony – resource scarcity and Algonquian hostility – faced the new colony as well, John White left with the English fleet in August of 1587, at the behest of the colonists themselves, to see to their relief and resupply from England.
But that relief and resupply, in part because of the Spanish Armada’s 1588 attack against England, was delayed for three years. “In fact, the colonists were never to be seen again by any European; they were lost from this time forward. All ventures were risky in the extreme, because the margin between success and failure was paper thin. In the case of the final Roanoke colony, all the chances went against them rather than for them” (p. 122).
When the relief expedition finally arrived at Roanoke Island in 1590, and the Roanoke colonists were gone, that by itself did not necessarily constitute cause for alarm. The famous carving of the word CROATOAN on an entrance post to the village (the word “Croatoan” a reference to what we now call Hatteras Island) was there for the most practical of reasons: White and the other colonists had planned “to carve on trees or doorposts the name of the place where they had moved so that, when he came with supplies, he would be able to find them. Further, they were to carve a Maltese cross over the name if they left in distress, and there was no cross!” (p. 131) The Roanoke colonists, in short, did not hurry away for fear of their lives; nor were they killed in a sudden massacre. They chose to leave.
And unfortunately, we will probably never know the final fate of the lost Roanoke colonists – for powerful storms forced the ships away from Roanoke Island, and the storms' damage to the ships was severe enough that the expedition’s leaders felt there was no choice but to return to England. As a number of commentators have pointed out, the Lost Colony was lost largely because efforts to find the lost colonists were few, far-between, and inadequate.
In a thoughtful concluding chapter, Kupperman compares the failure of the Roanoke Colony in 1587 with the success of the Jamestown Colony 20 years later in 1607. The two colonies, she suggests, were as different as the two men most strongly associated with each – Sir Walter Raleigh on the one hand, and Captain John Smith on the other. “Raleigh,” Kupperman suggests, “was the archetype of the swashbuckling aristocrat, searching for gain and glory together” (p. 168). For Raleigh and many of his contemporaries, a colony was little more than a convenient base for privateering, and the goods to be searched out in the American wilderness were gold and silver and precious jewels that could make one rich immediately.
Captain John Smith could not have been more different. A “self-made man” and “survival expert” who “never troubled to conceal his contempt for the tender young gentlemen [of Jamestown] who did not know how to save themselves” (p. 169), Smith had gotten his education through his travel through and residence in the many countries where he fought in various wars. He was impatient with the search for precious metals and gems, and thought that the best thing a successful colony could do was become self-sufficient, as quickly as possible, through the cultivation of marketable goods – like tobacco, for example.
Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony conveys in a brisk and succinct manner this tragic and puzzling chapter from the epic of English America’s beginnings. One finishes this brisk, succinct, detail-rich book with an appreciation for Kupperman’s gifts as an historian – and with a lingering wish that somehow, someday, some latter-day historical detective might at last ferret out a solution to the mystery of the Lost Colony.
February 6, 2021
I found this book incredibly informative, especially regarding what occurred before the colony was actually established. However, that is what made this fall a little short for me. I just wanted to get to the part of living in the actual colony and then the eventual abandonment of it which didn’t happened until more than halfway through the book. The information was super thorough though. I absolutely loved chapters 7-10 and found them entertaining even. I just got bored a little bit in the middle. I would still recommend this book as a great starting point for learning about Roanoke.
July 29, 2022
Walter Ralegh wants to set up a colony in the americas for privateering purposes. Englands view of colonial enterprises were shortsighted at the time and were more interested in setting up outposts for english privateers in their business vs the Spanish.
1584 There was a reconnoissance mission to Roanoke island led by a small party that stopped at the Chesapeake bay on the way back to England and were attacked by the native Chesapeake people-who were much more organized as a society and much more warlike than the natives in the outer banks.
1585 The Lane colony on Roanoke is led by veterans of the war and colonization in Ireland which was England’s first experiment with colonization that was basically terrorism. The colony in Roanoke is unsuccessful due to the nature of their colonists and the poor relationship they built with the natives whom they basically rely on for sustenance. The only positive gathered from this 1585 expedition was the genius of artist John White and scientist Thomas Harriot. Together they recorded the most accurate and reliable depiction of native Americans up to that point and for perhaps 100 years after. Apparently their work was monumental.
England is pretty down on the whole idea of colonization at this point, the purpose of colonization is to make money either by serving as a base to conduct privateering matters from or to harvest the new lands natural wealth, and it seems that is not going to happen at Roanoke.
1587, John White, the artist that depicts the natives so accurately and scientifically (side note these scientific fellows especially are much in favor of treating the natives humanely and treat them with the intelligence they deserve) decides to try a new form of colonization-one based on families settling for their own benefit and increase, rather than privateers and cold veterans of the raping of the Irish colonial enterprise. He gathers some 110 people to deposit onto the Chesapeake bay-a fairer, deep water port, further inland, much more suited to England’s needs than the outpost on the harsh outer banks. Well he stops to check in on Roanoke and ends up staying. Theories range from his fear of the fierce Chesapeake natives, to simply his familiarity with the Roanoke colony due to his attending the attempted Lane colony just two years earlier. Either way he ends up right back at Roanoke. Everybodys making bad decisions, one of their party is killed by a native almost right away. The natives hate the English after the Lane expedition who basically leeched off the natives the entire time.
Side note, Grenville who was sent back to England from the Lane colony to resupply after an unfortunate shipwreck shows up a few days after that colony gives up and sir francis drake comes to save the colony itself. Grenville knowing nothing about the colony departing searches for a few days finds nothing and leaves 15 men with supplies never to be seen or heard from again. Oh also when Lanes colony was so eagerly departing three men were in the interior on the mainland and nobody bothered to wait for them-they were never heard from again. Also sir Francis drake on his way to Roanoke to rescue the lane colony picks up a few dozen natives and africans from Spanish vessels-he dumps them off presumably in Roanoke-never to be heard from again.
Back to 1587, John white for some reason after being such a “treat the natives peacefully” kind of guy attacks the natives to avenge the killing of one of his party. The natives don’t care about the English, they’re bitches that cant take care of themselves, things are heating up.
Then basically the colonists are freaking out when the ships are to depart back for England and convince John White to be their representative in England to make sure they get supplied properly and don’t end up like the Lane colony-especially knowing now as they do the Indians do not intend on being their meal ticket.
John white leaves the colony at their request, including his daughter Eleanor Dare with newborn grand daughter Virginia Dare, never to be seen or heard from by them again. He gets back to England and with Sir Walter Ralegh begins to plan the trip back re-supplied then fate intervenes.
1588 The virgin queen, Queen Elizabeth 2, forbids all war-capable ships to leave port for fear of the dreaded Spanish armada invading England. 130 ships of war in total, the greatest naval power in the world is defeated by the faster, smaller english force led by a one Sir Francis Drake. This event basically catapulting England into the role of naval superpower-and hence world superpower- for hundreds of years to come.
White managed to get permission to sail two of Grenville’s ships with 15 new colonists and supplies to Roanoke in the midst of all this, only to be caught up with the same old shit, bad sea captains only interested in piracy and privateering, they got captured by a french ship lost their supplies and did not make it to Roanoke.
1590 White finally gets back to roanoke. They arrive within sight and see a fire on the island and white is pumped. They get there the next day and realize it was a naturally occurring fire. They inspect the palisaded fort and everything is in order, the colonists are gone but left not in haste. The agreed sign is posted in two places one labelled “CRO” and the other “Croatoan”, the island which their native ally Manteo was born. There was no sign of distress so white decided due to lack of supplies and with the winter brewing they would return to the west indies and wait for their search of Croatoan until the spring. They didn’t make it to the west indies, they went back to England, and John White gave up on the colonists having never ventured to Croaton as their sign indicated. John white became a new colonist for Sir Walter Ralegh in Ireland and started a new life there leaving his daughter and grand daughter to and unknown fate on the interior of the wild and exotic land of America.
Nobody looked for the colonists for about ten years and any attempts thereafter were minimal. The Spanish still paranoid that the english had actually established a firm base in the Chesapeake brought conflicting reports but to no end. Finally in 1607 when the Jamestown colony began under the leadership of John Smith there were many reports of “people like them” living amongst the natives to the south and around the Chesapeake. There were reports of “natives with blonde hair and relatively white skin” which would indicate some level of assimilation from the colony 20 years prior. There were also credible reports of all the colonists being killed.
Almost certainly most of the colonists were killed and some were kept and assimilated into native culture-as was custom with native Americans. Much of the time any men of fighting age were killed and women and children were “adopted” into the community. Many of the men may have been assimilated due to certain skills in metal-working or brick-making, there were some reports of brick Indian structures that could only be made by the help or guidance of an Englishman. Its pretty obvious after the colony was abandoned in the interior of the continent this assimilation/extermination happened.
“In 1612, William Strachey, a gentleman of literary pretensions who had gone to Virginia to be the secretary of the Jamestown colony, wrote his History of Travel into Virginia Britannia. He reported that the Roanoke colonists had made their way from the Outer Banks to Chesapeake Bay, thus fulfilling the original plan for the colony. They had lived in peace for twenty years with Indians outside the domain of the “Great Emperor" Powhatan, in whose territory Jamestown had been founded. Urged on by his priests, who prophesied that a rival to him would emerge from the Chesapeakes, the tribe sheltering the Roanoke refugees, Powhatan ordered the slaughter of them all, English and Indians. Ironically, this had happened just at the time the Virginia colonists were first arriving. Strachey claimed that four men, two boys, and a young girl had escaped and were living to the south with Indians who had stone houses of more than one story, a style taught them by the English. He indicated that these survivors were valued because they knew how to work copper.”
Its likely the colonists or descendants of the colonists did end up in the Chesapeake and the mainland of the Carolinas-spreading through the native population in general. Assimilating, dying, reproducing until no trace of them could be seen separate from the natives themselves.
“Local lore in North Carolina maintains that the lost colonists survived and intermarried with the Indians and that their descendants live in the region today. The Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina, believe they are those descendants. It is probable that some of the Roanoke colonists did live on and melt into the native population. This could have been true of the several hundred enslaved Africans and Indians from the Caribbean left by Drake, the three men abandoned by Lane's colony in their haste to leave, or the fifteen men left by Grenville when he found the colony deserted in 1586, as well as of the men, women, and children left by John White in 1587. If William Strachey's report of children being saved from Powhatan's vengeance is correct, then a completely American generation had begun to grow up; Virginia Dare, if she was alive, would have been a young woman when English colonists again came to Virginia, possibly a mother herself.”
The book goes on to layout the end of Sir Walter Ralegh’s life and epic execution after falling out of favor with the virgin queen and her successor King James 1. As well as a bit about Thomas Harriots contributions to science. Then a small layout of a successful colony as seen in Jamestown under the leadership of John Smith and the hardships they faced.
“Roanoke's enduring contributions-the lessons that made Jamestown and the later colonies possible, and the incomparable portraits of Indian culture produced by Harriot and White-make it truly the foundation of American history.”
1584 There was a reconnoissance mission to Roanoke island led by a small party that stopped at the Chesapeake bay on the way back to England and were attacked by the native Chesapeake people-who were much more organized as a society and much more warlike than the natives in the outer banks.
1585 The Lane colony on Roanoke is led by veterans of the war and colonization in Ireland which was England’s first experiment with colonization that was basically terrorism. The colony in Roanoke is unsuccessful due to the nature of their colonists and the poor relationship they built with the natives whom they basically rely on for sustenance. The only positive gathered from this 1585 expedition was the genius of artist John White and scientist Thomas Harriot. Together they recorded the most accurate and reliable depiction of native Americans up to that point and for perhaps 100 years after. Apparently their work was monumental.
England is pretty down on the whole idea of colonization at this point, the purpose of colonization is to make money either by serving as a base to conduct privateering matters from or to harvest the new lands natural wealth, and it seems that is not going to happen at Roanoke.
1587, John White, the artist that depicts the natives so accurately and scientifically (side note these scientific fellows especially are much in favor of treating the natives humanely and treat them with the intelligence they deserve) decides to try a new form of colonization-one based on families settling for their own benefit and increase, rather than privateers and cold veterans of the raping of the Irish colonial enterprise. He gathers some 110 people to deposit onto the Chesapeake bay-a fairer, deep water port, further inland, much more suited to England’s needs than the outpost on the harsh outer banks. Well he stops to check in on Roanoke and ends up staying. Theories range from his fear of the fierce Chesapeake natives, to simply his familiarity with the Roanoke colony due to his attending the attempted Lane colony just two years earlier. Either way he ends up right back at Roanoke. Everybodys making bad decisions, one of their party is killed by a native almost right away. The natives hate the English after the Lane expedition who basically leeched off the natives the entire time.
Side note, Grenville who was sent back to England from the Lane colony to resupply after an unfortunate shipwreck shows up a few days after that colony gives up and sir francis drake comes to save the colony itself. Grenville knowing nothing about the colony departing searches for a few days finds nothing and leaves 15 men with supplies never to be seen or heard from again. Oh also when Lanes colony was so eagerly departing three men were in the interior on the mainland and nobody bothered to wait for them-they were never heard from again. Also sir Francis drake on his way to Roanoke to rescue the lane colony picks up a few dozen natives and africans from Spanish vessels-he dumps them off presumably in Roanoke-never to be heard from again.
Back to 1587, John white for some reason after being such a “treat the natives peacefully” kind of guy attacks the natives to avenge the killing of one of his party. The natives don’t care about the English, they’re bitches that cant take care of themselves, things are heating up.
Then basically the colonists are freaking out when the ships are to depart back for England and convince John White to be their representative in England to make sure they get supplied properly and don’t end up like the Lane colony-especially knowing now as they do the Indians do not intend on being their meal ticket.
John white leaves the colony at their request, including his daughter Eleanor Dare with newborn grand daughter Virginia Dare, never to be seen or heard from by them again. He gets back to England and with Sir Walter Ralegh begins to plan the trip back re-supplied then fate intervenes.
1588 The virgin queen, Queen Elizabeth 2, forbids all war-capable ships to leave port for fear of the dreaded Spanish armada invading England. 130 ships of war in total, the greatest naval power in the world is defeated by the faster, smaller english force led by a one Sir Francis Drake. This event basically catapulting England into the role of naval superpower-and hence world superpower- for hundreds of years to come.
White managed to get permission to sail two of Grenville’s ships with 15 new colonists and supplies to Roanoke in the midst of all this, only to be caught up with the same old shit, bad sea captains only interested in piracy and privateering, they got captured by a french ship lost their supplies and did not make it to Roanoke.
1590 White finally gets back to roanoke. They arrive within sight and see a fire on the island and white is pumped. They get there the next day and realize it was a naturally occurring fire. They inspect the palisaded fort and everything is in order, the colonists are gone but left not in haste. The agreed sign is posted in two places one labelled “CRO” and the other “Croatoan”, the island which their native ally Manteo was born. There was no sign of distress so white decided due to lack of supplies and with the winter brewing they would return to the west indies and wait for their search of Croatoan until the spring. They didn’t make it to the west indies, they went back to England, and John White gave up on the colonists having never ventured to Croaton as their sign indicated. John white became a new colonist for Sir Walter Ralegh in Ireland and started a new life there leaving his daughter and grand daughter to and unknown fate on the interior of the wild and exotic land of America.
Nobody looked for the colonists for about ten years and any attempts thereafter were minimal. The Spanish still paranoid that the english had actually established a firm base in the Chesapeake brought conflicting reports but to no end. Finally in 1607 when the Jamestown colony began under the leadership of John Smith there were many reports of “people like them” living amongst the natives to the south and around the Chesapeake. There were reports of “natives with blonde hair and relatively white skin” which would indicate some level of assimilation from the colony 20 years prior. There were also credible reports of all the colonists being killed.
Almost certainly most of the colonists were killed and some were kept and assimilated into native culture-as was custom with native Americans. Much of the time any men of fighting age were killed and women and children were “adopted” into the community. Many of the men may have been assimilated due to certain skills in metal-working or brick-making, there were some reports of brick Indian structures that could only be made by the help or guidance of an Englishman. Its pretty obvious after the colony was abandoned in the interior of the continent this assimilation/extermination happened.
“In 1612, William Strachey, a gentleman of literary pretensions who had gone to Virginia to be the secretary of the Jamestown colony, wrote his History of Travel into Virginia Britannia. He reported that the Roanoke colonists had made their way from the Outer Banks to Chesapeake Bay, thus fulfilling the original plan for the colony. They had lived in peace for twenty years with Indians outside the domain of the “Great Emperor" Powhatan, in whose territory Jamestown had been founded. Urged on by his priests, who prophesied that a rival to him would emerge from the Chesapeakes, the tribe sheltering the Roanoke refugees, Powhatan ordered the slaughter of them all, English and Indians. Ironically, this had happened just at the time the Virginia colonists were first arriving. Strachey claimed that four men, two boys, and a young girl had escaped and were living to the south with Indians who had stone houses of more than one story, a style taught them by the English. He indicated that these survivors were valued because they knew how to work copper.”
Its likely the colonists or descendants of the colonists did end up in the Chesapeake and the mainland of the Carolinas-spreading through the native population in general. Assimilating, dying, reproducing until no trace of them could be seen separate from the natives themselves.
“Local lore in North Carolina maintains that the lost colonists survived and intermarried with the Indians and that their descendants live in the region today. The Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina, believe they are those descendants. It is probable that some of the Roanoke colonists did live on and melt into the native population. This could have been true of the several hundred enslaved Africans and Indians from the Caribbean left by Drake, the three men abandoned by Lane's colony in their haste to leave, or the fifteen men left by Grenville when he found the colony deserted in 1586, as well as of the men, women, and children left by John White in 1587. If William Strachey's report of children being saved from Powhatan's vengeance is correct, then a completely American generation had begun to grow up; Virginia Dare, if she was alive, would have been a young woman when English colonists again came to Virginia, possibly a mother herself.”
The book goes on to layout the end of Sir Walter Ralegh’s life and epic execution after falling out of favor with the virgin queen and her successor King James 1. As well as a bit about Thomas Harriots contributions to science. Then a small layout of a successful colony as seen in Jamestown under the leadership of John Smith and the hardships they faced.
“Roanoke's enduring contributions-the lessons that made Jamestown and the later colonies possible, and the incomparable portraits of Indian culture produced by Harriot and White-make it truly the foundation of American history.”
February 20, 2017
This book was short, but very informative and interesting. I learned a lot about the world around the time the English settled in Roanoke by reading this book. It was interesting to learn about the Portuguese privateers and that England was not a big power house with their naval forces at this time. Although we still do not know much about what happened to the settlement at Roanoke, this is a good book to start off with and learn about the history of this time period.
July 26, 2011
Written for the occasion of the 400 year anniversary of Roanoke's founding. While interesting and very readable, the book presents no new information, but is the same story as told by her mentor David Beers Quinn and other predecesors. This is not Kupperman's best research work, she is capable and has produced much more interesting work.
October 12, 2017
A fine historical analysis of the politics and strategic decisions which influenced both the attempted settlement of Roanoke Island and its later abandonment. Kupperman's suggestion as to the fate of the colonists is equally well presented and feasible.
November 2, 2017
Good general history of the period, focused on the creation of the colonies, but I wanted to know more about what happened to the colonists. Disappointingly short shrift in that area.
January 21, 2018
Very interesting book, lots of information!
February 24, 2022
Very informative about the origins of the colony and the people involved but it didn't have what I was really looking for - theories about what happened to the colonists.
June 30, 2024
History comes alive in this study of America's oldest mystery...,
This is an excellent review of all topics related to the preparations, settlement, and ultimate failure of America's first English colony. The egotistical players (Ralegh, Greenville, Lane) are studied along with the realistic forward thinkers (both Richard Hakluyts, White, Harriot) and the Indians who were encroached upon to result in a fair and balanced account of the political, social, religious and cultural reasons for the failure of the "Lost Colony".
The subtitle, "The Abandoned Colony" is remarkably insightful and appropriate and the book explains in clear and specific terms why this attempt at colonization was destined for failure from the outset. The author is clear in her logic and in her explanations of what took place. Each chapter leads the reader from the back-story toward the ultimate reasons for the deserted colony.
This capitalist effort was a corporate subsidized suicide mission and the facts supporting such a thesis are, regrettably for those who history will now vilify, all too clear.
The book reads surprisingly like a work of fiction; the story of the people, their interactions, motivations and personalities, all laid out like a strange tale resulting in a Steven King like disaster (King did reference the "Lost Colony" in his screenplay "The Storm of the Century"). The fact that this colony resulted in failure is no shock looking back. But Karen Ordahl Kupperman gives great detail to the climate of the times which resulted in such a seemingly obvious disaster waiting to happen. Obviously, the colonists and the leaders did not foresee disaster, but the book reads like a thriller in which we know the outcome but not how the final chapter is reached.
What is most interesting about this book is the depth of study devoted to the Carolina Algonquians, the Indians that were most commonly in contact with the failed colony. As stated by the author, there is probably no greater study of 16th century Indian life than that which was provided by the colonists of Roanoke Island. We are given, in a concise and easy read, what was drawn from a large pool of non-fiction and personal interviews, a view of Indian life both before and after European contact.
The fact that the Roanoke Colony remains a question today is astounding considering that historians and archaeologists are able to piece together so much with modern scientific tools. This only further adds to the incredible mystery of the colony.
There are now, in the area of the colony, studies involving DNA that may point to a possible solution to the riddle of the "Lost Colony". Until we have that solution, this book is an excellent source of all information available and it is presented by one of America's best authorities on early Indian interaction with European settlers.
A must read for anyone that is interested in the history of America. This is the first attempt by the English to settle the "New World" and this was a major stepping stone which led to the settlement of Jamestown, North America's first permanent English colony.
There are some flaws in the text that are justified by the fact that this work was published in 1984; somewhat confusing is the fact that this work is a second edition and, therefore, update should have included omission of outdated information, but the majority of this is not on the topic of the colony, rather on the origins of the Indian population of North America and thus easily overlooked.
A highly recommended resource.
This is an excellent review of all topics related to the preparations, settlement, and ultimate failure of America's first English colony. The egotistical players (Ralegh, Greenville, Lane) are studied along with the realistic forward thinkers (both Richard Hakluyts, White, Harriot) and the Indians who were encroached upon to result in a fair and balanced account of the political, social, religious and cultural reasons for the failure of the "Lost Colony".
The subtitle, "The Abandoned Colony" is remarkably insightful and appropriate and the book explains in clear and specific terms why this attempt at colonization was destined for failure from the outset. The author is clear in her logic and in her explanations of what took place. Each chapter leads the reader from the back-story toward the ultimate reasons for the deserted colony.
This capitalist effort was a corporate subsidized suicide mission and the facts supporting such a thesis are, regrettably for those who history will now vilify, all too clear.
The book reads surprisingly like a work of fiction; the story of the people, their interactions, motivations and personalities, all laid out like a strange tale resulting in a Steven King like disaster (King did reference the "Lost Colony" in his screenplay "The Storm of the Century"). The fact that this colony resulted in failure is no shock looking back. But Karen Ordahl Kupperman gives great detail to the climate of the times which resulted in such a seemingly obvious disaster waiting to happen. Obviously, the colonists and the leaders did not foresee disaster, but the book reads like a thriller in which we know the outcome but not how the final chapter is reached.
What is most interesting about this book is the depth of study devoted to the Carolina Algonquians, the Indians that were most commonly in contact with the failed colony. As stated by the author, there is probably no greater study of 16th century Indian life than that which was provided by the colonists of Roanoke Island. We are given, in a concise and easy read, what was drawn from a large pool of non-fiction and personal interviews, a view of Indian life both before and after European contact.
The fact that the Roanoke Colony remains a question today is astounding considering that historians and archaeologists are able to piece together so much with modern scientific tools. This only further adds to the incredible mystery of the colony.
There are now, in the area of the colony, studies involving DNA that may point to a possible solution to the riddle of the "Lost Colony". Until we have that solution, this book is an excellent source of all information available and it is presented by one of America's best authorities on early Indian interaction with European settlers.
A must read for anyone that is interested in the history of America. This is the first attempt by the English to settle the "New World" and this was a major stepping stone which led to the settlement of Jamestown, North America's first permanent English colony.
There are some flaws in the text that are justified by the fact that this work was published in 1984; somewhat confusing is the fact that this work is a second edition and, therefore, update should have included omission of outdated information, but the majority of this is not on the topic of the colony, rather on the origins of the Indian population of North America and thus easily overlooked.
A highly recommended resource.
June 28, 2024
Very concise and well-written. The way Kupperman frames this book chronologically is helpful. I appreciate the way she lays out the facts in a scholarly way, without a lot of conjecture and speculation, and starts by explaining the religious and political positions England and Spain were in at the time, which is critical in understanding what happened. I also appreciated how she didn't try to fill up a bunch of pages with information we didn't need.
If you're interested learning more about this subject, I recommend Andrew Lawler's book, The Secret Token and Spain and the Roanoke Voyages by Paul Hoffman. Lawler's book is THE book to read, as he covers many aspects, including theories, and the way he writes is entertaining. The Hoffman books is short, and the binding is garbage - the pages fall halfway out of the book as soon as you turn them, all of them - but the Spanish perspective is rich and interesting. The other book I highly recommend is a graphic novel The Roanoke Colony by Chris Schweizer. This was my favorite of them all. Brilliantly researched and illustrated.
Kupperman's book is perfect if you want a shorter read (than Lawler's). She has been an expert on "The Lost Colony" for many years.
If you're interested learning more about this subject, I recommend Andrew Lawler's book, The Secret Token and Spain and the Roanoke Voyages by Paul Hoffman. Lawler's book is THE book to read, as he covers many aspects, including theories, and the way he writes is entertaining. The Hoffman books is short, and the binding is garbage - the pages fall halfway out of the book as soon as you turn them, all of them - but the Spanish perspective is rich and interesting. The other book I highly recommend is a graphic novel The Roanoke Colony by Chris Schweizer. This was my favorite of them all. Brilliantly researched and illustrated.
Kupperman's book is perfect if you want a shorter read (than Lawler's). She has been an expert on "The Lost Colony" for many years.
November 26, 2016
I both did and did not like all the seeming extraneous detail she included in this slim fast reading book. Just when it would seem like she had wandered off into the Outer Banks weeds in her explanation she would bring it on back to how all these seemingly unrelated factors all knit together from 16th century history to give a big picture explanation of what the heck happened. As usual the paragraph or so you got in your history textbook doesn't begin to tell the story. With this orientation maybe- just maybe I am prepared for William T. Volmann's Argyll. I really liked how it packed so much punch in 200 pages. I have read much much bigger books and walked away not feeling like I learned as much. She totally captures the personalities and motivations of all the players. And it is all about personality. I liked the detective story reasoning at the end too. Takeaway: don't be first- wait and see how things play out beyond the promises and hype.
August 5, 2014
I picked this book up because I wanted to learn about Roanoke and the mystery of the disappearance of the colony. This book focused more on England's policies on colonization and how England's attitude towards colonization as a means to privateering (aka pirating from Spanish boats) instead of settling and working the land were the downfall of Roanoke. It seems like the mystery around the disappearance of the colony was an afterthought and was addressed within a few pages. I learned a few interesting tid bits but not enough that I would read this book again.
August 20, 2010
-This is a factual story of the settlement of Roanoke, but the facts only add to the mystery of what happened to the settlers. It was very definitive about the settlers disappearing and only hinted that they might have married into the Native American tribe nearby, but that was one of many theories presented.
April 5, 2016
This book presents a lot of historical detail that gives a sense not only of the events leading up to the disappearance of the colonists but also the political climate of the time. The epilogue and afterward also tie up the loose ends of what happened to the principle participants in this sad chapter of our history.
April 30, 2016
This is a well-written history that focuses more on the voyages to Roanoke than the attempts at colonization. Good references to primary sources and a good general resource for early attempts at colonizing North America. Easy and quick read.
June 2, 2010
Very informative, but it kind of fell flat at the end. There was a lot of set up about the lost colony but then not much about their time there. I guess that's expected since they were lost.
March 18, 2013
The Shelf: Rejected.
April 5, 2017
Served as a good timeline of names and events that took place admits Roanoke's short lived history, but I was expecting a lot more analysis than there actually was.
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