Roanoke Island: Difference between revisions
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The first attempt was headed by Ralph Lane in 1585, after Sir [[Richard Grenville]], who had transported the colonists to Virginia, returned to England for supplies as planned. The colonists were desperately in need of supplies and Grenville's return was delayed. As a result, when Sir [[Francis Drake]] put in at Roanoke after attacking the Spanish colony of [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], the entire population abandoned the colony and returned with Drake to England. |
The first attempt was headed by Ralph Lane in 1585, after Sir [[Richard Grenville]], who had transported the colonists to Virginia, returned to England for supplies as planned. The colonists were desperately in need of supplies and Grenville's return was delayed. As a result, when Sir [[Francis Drake]] put in at Roanoke after attacking the Spanish colony of [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], the entire population abandoned the colony and returned with Drake to England. |
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In 1587, the English again attempted to settle Roanoke Island. [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]], father of colonist Eleanor Dare, and grandfather to [[Virginia Dare]], the first English child born in the New World, left the colony to return to England for supplies. He expected to return to Roanoke Island within three months. Instead, he found England at war with Spain, and all ships were confiscated for use of the war efforts. White's return to Roanoke Island was delayed until 1590, by then all the colonists had disappeared. The settlement was abandoned. The only clue White found was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a tree.<ref name="tlcrn">{{Cite web|last=thatgirlproductions.net|title=The Roanoke Voyages|url=http://thelostcolony.org/education/Students/History/TheRoanokeVoyages.htm|publisher=thelostcolony.org|accessdate=23 July 2010}}</ref><ref name="bbrc">{{Cite book|last=Belval|first=Brian|title=A Primary Source History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke|year=2006|publisher=Rosen Classroom|isbn=1404206698|page=4}}</ref> Before leaving the colony three years earlier, White had left instructions that, if the colonists left the settlement, they were to carve the name of their destination, with a Maltese cross if they left due to danger.<ref>Beers Quinn. David, Ed."The Roanoke Voyages 1584-90". Vol. 1-11. Hakluyt Society, 1955. p.615</ref> |
In 1587, the English again attempted to settle Roanoke Island. [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]], father of colonist Eleanor Dare, and grandfather to [[Virginia Dare]], the first English child born in the New World, left the colony to return to England for supplies. He expected to return to Roanoke Island within three months. Instead, he found England at war with Spain, and all ships were confiscated for use of the war efforts. White's return to Roanoke Island was delayed until 1590, by then all the colonists had disappeared. The settlement was abandoned. The only clue White found was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a tree.<ref name="tlcrn">{{Cite web|last=thatgirlproductions.net|title=The Roanoke Voyages|url=http://thelostcolony.org/education/Students/History/TheRoanokeVoyages.htm|publisher=thelostcolony.org|accessdate=23 July 2010}}</ref><ref name="bbrc">{{Cite book|last=Belval|first=Brian|title=A Primary Source History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke|year=2006|publisher=Rosen Classroom|isbn=1404206698|page=4}}</ref> Before leaving the colony three years earlier, White had left instructions that, if the colonists left the settlement, they were to carve the name of their destination, with a [[Maltese cross]] if they left due to danger.<ref>Beers Quinn. David, Ed."The Roanoke Voyages 1584-90". Vol. 1-11. Hakluyt Society, 1955. p.615</ref> |
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"CROATOAN" was the name of an island to the south (modern-day [[Hatteras Island]]), where a friendly native tribe was known to live. Colonists might have tried to reach that island. However, foul weather kept White from venturing south to search on Croatoan for the colonists, and he returned to England. White would never return to the New World. The fate of the colony was never authoritatively ascertained, and it became known as "The Lost Colony". |
"CROATOAN" was the name of an island to the south (modern-day [[Hatteras Island]]), where a friendly native tribe was known to live. Colonists might have tried to reach that island. However, foul weather kept White from venturing south to search on Croatoan for the colonists, and he returned to England. White would never return to the New World. The fate of the colony was never authoritatively ascertained, and it became known as "The Lost Colony". |
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Revision as of 00:39, 17 January 2011
35°53′N 75°39′W / 35.883°N 75.650°W
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2009) |
Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration.
About eight miles (12 km) long and two miles (3 km) wide, Roanoke Island lies between the mainland and the barrier islands, with Albemarle Sound on its north, Roanoke Sound at the northern end, and Wanchese CDP at the southern end. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is on the island. There is a land area of 17.95 square miles (46.48 km²) and a population of 6,724 as of the 2000 census.
Located along U.S. Highway 64, a major highway from mainland North Carolina to the Outer Banks, Roanoke Island combines recreational and water features with historical sites and an outdoor theater to form one of the major tourist attractions of Dare County.
Roanoke Island is best known in European-American history for its historical significance as the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempt to establish a permanent English settlement with his Roanoke Colony in 1585 and 1587. The fate of the final group of colonists has never been determined, yielding persistent myths. Stories about the "Lost Colony" have circulated for over 400 years. In the 21st century, even as archaeologists, historians and scientists continue to work to resolve the mystery, visitors come to see the longest-running outdoor theater production in America: "The Lost Colony".
Roanoke Island is one of the three oldest surviving English place-names in the U.S. Along with the Chowan and Neuse rivers, it was named in 1584 by Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh.[1]
It is also the site of ancient indigenous settlements. Archeological excavations in the early 1980s at the Tillett Site at Wanchese have revealed evidence of various cultures dating back to 8000 BC. Ancestors of the Roanoke coalesced as a people in about 400 AD. Wanchese was used as a seasonal fishing village for 1500 years before English colonial settlement.[2]
History
The First Colony
Roanoke Island was the site of the 16th-century Roanoke Colony, the first English colony in the New World. It was located in what was then called Virginia, named in honor of England's ruling monarch and "Virgin Queen", Elizabeth I. There were two groups of settlers who attempted to establish a colony there, and both failed.
The first attempt was headed by Ralph Lane in 1585, after Sir Richard Grenville, who had transported the colonists to Virginia, returned to England for supplies as planned. The colonists were desperately in need of supplies and Grenville's return was delayed. As a result, when Sir Francis Drake put in at Roanoke after attacking the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, the entire population abandoned the colony and returned with Drake to England.
In 1587, the English again attempted to settle Roanoke Island. John White, father of colonist Eleanor Dare, and grandfather to Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, left the colony to return to England for supplies. He expected to return to Roanoke Island within three months. Instead, he found England at war with Spain, and all ships were confiscated for use of the war efforts. White's return to Roanoke Island was delayed until 1590, by then all the colonists had disappeared. The settlement was abandoned. The only clue White found was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a tree.[3][4] Before leaving the colony three years earlier, White had left instructions that, if the colonists left the settlement, they were to carve the name of their destination, with a Maltese cross if they left due to danger.[5]
"CROATOAN" was the name of an island to the south (modern-day Hatteras Island), where a friendly native tribe was known to live. Colonists might have tried to reach that island. However, foul weather kept White from venturing south to search on Croatoan for the colonists, and he returned to England. White would never return to the New World. The fate of the colony was never authoritatively ascertained, and it became known as "The Lost Colony".
In the 1880s, a man living in North Carolina wrote about what the Natives looked like there. He wrote that he had noticed that some of them had "fair skin and light eyes and hair, with Anglo bone structure." That was the kind of assumption that people made when not being able to place people of mixed race, more usually of European and African descent. Some people believe that survivors of the Roanoke colonists had been assimilated into the Croatoan Indian tribe, but there had been other opportunities for European-Native American contact. This is a legend for which there is no documentation.
Civil War years
During the American Civil War, the Confederacy fortified the island. The Battle of Roanoke Island (February 7–8, 1862) was an incident in the Union North Carolina Expedition of January to July 1862, when Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside landed an amphibious force and took Confederate forts on the island. Afterward, the Union Army renamed the three Confederate forts for the Union generals who had commanded the winning forces: Fort Huger became Fort Reno; Fort Blanchard became Fort Parke; and Fort Bartow became Fort Foster. Loss of the forts led to the resignation of Confederate Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin. Roanoke Island was occupied by Union forces for the duration of the war, through 1865.
Slaves from the island and the mainland of North Carolina fled to the occupied area with hopes of gaining freedom. By 1863, numerous former slaves, known as "contrabands," were living on the fringe of the Union camp. They had built churches and opened what was likely the first free school for blacks in North Carolina.
Fearing that the growing freedmen's camp might lead to problems related to sanitation and soldiers' discipline, the Union Army established an official freedmen's colony on the island. In addition to serving the original residents, the colony was to be a refuge for the families of black soldiers who enlisted in the Union Army as United States Colored Troops. Horace James, superintendent, had great hopes for the colony, as he viewed it as an important social experiment, to prove blacks could progress. Northern missionary teachers, mostly women from New England, journeyed to the island to teach literacy to both children and adults, who were eager for education[citation needed].
Museums on Roanoke Island
- Dare County Regional Airport Museum
- Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
- North Carolina Maritime Museum on Roanoke Island
- Roanoke Heritage Art Galleries & Military Museum
- Roanoke Island Festival Park
- Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse
References
- ^ Stewart, George (1945). Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States. New York: Random House. pp. 21, 22.
- ^ "Archeology of the Tillett Site", Carolina Algonkian Project, 2002, accessed 23 April 2010
- ^ thatgirlproductions.net. "The Roanoke Voyages". thelostcolony.org. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ Belval, Brian (2006). A Primary Source History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Rosen Classroom. p. 4. ISBN 1404206698.
- ^ Beers Quinn. David, Ed."The Roanoke Voyages 1584-90". Vol. 1-11. Hakluyt Society, 1955. p.615
External links
- Battle summary: Battle of Roanoke Island
- Patricia C. Click, Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony
- Article in Atlanta Journal about Lumbee and Lost Colony
- Roanoke Adventure Museum
- Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, National Park Service
- Roanoke the Accidental Colony