NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET. Vous. I. MAY 10, 1901. No. 1. VIRGINIA DARE. BY MAJOR GRAHAM DAVES. RALEIGH: CAPITAL PRINTING COMPANY. 1901. “*Zarolina! Carolina: Heaven’s blessings attend ber! 4 While we live we will cherish, protect and defend ber. VIRGINIA DARE. On the eastern shore of North Carolina, in the shallow sounds enclosed by long sand banks, which bound the coast, lies a little island twelve miles long and three miles broad. This is Roanoke—the scene of the first English settle- ment in this country, and the birth-place of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America. How much of romance, and yet more of history—“a ro- mance of the real ”—clusters around the sad stor y of this young girl! Out of the unfortunate expeditions, of which she, in some sense, may be said to have been the first fruits, Stew the schemes of colonization at Jamestown and at P ly- The seed were sown at were fertilized by the sacrifice of the settlers , but took enduring root first at Jamestown. Associated with the humble, and nists of Ro mouth a score of years later. Roanoke, there almost unknown colo- anoke are the names: Elizabeth, Queen ; Raleigh, the preux chevalier, soldier, statesman, poet, historian; Sir Richard Grenville, sailor, soldier and martyr; Sir Francis Drake of the Globe. company. the Virgin » Admiral and circumnavigator Truly our little Virginia Dare was in goodly Of chronicle rs, too, she, her companions and their acts, had no lack. There were Arthur Ba tlowe, who commanded a ship in the first expedition ; I aane, the governor of the first colo- 4 nists; John White, governor of the second colonists, the grandfather of Virginia Dare, whom he was destined to seek in sorrow and never find. ‘Their accounts, and those of others also, are full and their stories well told. ‘They are still on record, and have been published by the Hakluyt Society. It is a noteworthy fact that the history of these colonies which came to naught, and of a locality now so little known, should be so fully recorded and preserved in every detail—much more so than that of other localities of far greater importance, now of much prominence, whose origin and early history are often obscure and uncertain— sometimes almost unknown. It was in a stirring era, too, in the history of the world, and one of romantic incident and adventure, that the little waif, Virginia Dare, first saw its light. The dreaded Span- ish Armada—foiled in part by Drake and Raleigh, so inti- mately connected with the colonists of Roanoke—was pre- paring for its descent upon the coasts of Britain; the ap- peals and groans of the Christian martyrs who twenty years before perished for their faith at the stake at Smithfield, Oxford and elsewhere, still echoed through the land ; Bacon and Shakespeare, all unconscious of their future fame, were in their lusty youth; ‘The Faery Queen” was taking shape in the prolific brain of Spencer; Sir Philip Sidney was soon to die at Zutphen; Frobisher had returned from his Arctic discoveries, and Drake from his voyage around the world; the horrible butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew at , Paris, had heightened religious enmity to the fiercest inten- sity, to which the good Prince of Orange was soon to for- 5 feit his li i chia life, a murdered victim ; and the lovely Scots was if es one a to lay her beautiful head upon the block *plration of the plottings and sins 5 5 pape ee g d sins of others, of whom 9s the willing tool The Anglo Saxon and € the long strug: se Ss ti- st » $ y = gele for supremac 7 at sea and upon thi ; conti nent, which may be said to h but Queen of the Spaniard were ri paniard were entering upon i a ave been ended by ourselves € ago, after more than three hundred years Phi s ) by the ex i 2 ian 2 of the latter from Cuba and the other West * surely little Virginia was born in troublous times and her sad f ] ate was not the ] 5 < i i i as ; a east yathetic incident of that ~*~ There were two ex fae ee isan peditions to Roanoke before the birth ; ; 7 of Virginia Dare, some acc f i dine eat . account of which may : e first was one i very , i dake 1e of discovery and explora- ) sisted of two small ships. the “ ze and the « + a ee Admirall,” commande Ams ) mmanded by Captains Phi nadas and Arthur Barlowe, to the 1 on the account of the voyage Sir Walter Raleigh: “The 27th ER 7th of April, in the y i ieee a ! 1e yere of our redemption 1584, “A i {neland with tw ee Wi er g vith two barkes well fur- with men and victuals *: & 8.5 | yi . 1e roth o June w : : J we were fallen with the Islands of the West Indes BR Mri BE +, he 2nd = of July we f F J ound s rate ae smelt so sweet and so « hole water, wher we the midst of so strong a smel, as if we had been in ; some delicate o- A arden al i : : tous flowere ; 5 abounding with “ owers, by which we were ass g odorife COE Re fade Ne Prien ured that the land could * * : ip atter of whom we owe and of its results. He says to he! ty ? i e 4th of July we arrived upon the coast, 6 which we supposed to be a continent, and we sayled along the same 120 miles before we could find any entrance, or river issuing into the sea. he first that appeared unto us we entered, and cast anker about three harquebuz-shot within the haven’s mouth: and after thanks given to God for our safe arrivall thither, we manned our boats, and went to view the land next adjoyning and to take possession of the same in right of the Queene’s most excellent Ma- jestic. * * * Wee came to an Island which they call Roanoke, distant seven leagues from the harbour by which we entered: and at the north end thereof was a village of nine houses, built of Cedar and fortified round about with sharp trees.” * * * We were entertained with all love and kindnesse, and with as much bountie as they could possibly devise. We found the people most gentle, loving and faithfull, voide of all guile and treason, and such as live after the manner of the golden age.” A handsome tribute to our Hatteras Indians, who after- wards, probably, had not much cause to return the compli- ment. These Indians differed in no way from the other na- tives of America except that they had a few zron imple- ments, and that among them were noticed children with auburn and chestnut colored hair. It was learned later that twenty-six years before this time, a ship manned by white men had been cast away at Secotan, and that some of the crew had been saved. After a time these men at- tempted to escape in a small boat, and were drowned. These were the only whites ever seen before the arrival of the English—but some six years after this time another = é vessel he 7 i aad been wrecked on this coast, and all ished. F : i From parts of this wreck driven lad obtained nails ’ explanation, this archaeologist. the crew per- ashore the natives spikes and edged tools. But for this presence of iron would have perplexed the The account of tt gist n 1e n and hospitality, of their e fruit a l ITa nc g c 10, atives, their kindness asy life, and of the abundance of fish and g familiar to us all. Like al] chase the ase the swords and knives all, they desired to obt Shields in battle. ame in these inland waters is natives, they longed to pur- Ae a white men, but above ain the kettles and pans se as . The King’s Macken ‘0 omn “i ne rm paying the English liberally in mel d wey rp ) ous and fruit, and each day he sent to the ne 1€w-comers presents ‘ sof “ fz ka”? Conles, hares and fish. : Ce They visited the Indian vill we came towards it,”? the the water's side tl brother ¢ friendly age on Roanoke. “ When record runs, “ standing near unto et peri phe Granganimeo the King’ pre ‘10th e Oo meet us very chee ies Bice isang was not then in the Village. Some er fea 2 % a> oagapee to draw our boat on shore for tonic = she + she commanded to carry dig tae age vi ground ; and others to bring our reine coe ge of stealing. When we were come slik d ear ned ee five Tooms to her house, she snatiak cas hone a great fre, and after took off our hie eter pecan er Beceioad pains them again, some of arm water, and she herself took great paj §teat pains to see - ings or i "gael ten all things ordered in the best man- Ss rfully and The ad A eo1ion ab l ven turers remained 1n that T < : Le) out two 8 . months and made man 2 explot ations. In Septem ber a e y re rne 4 k ¥ with them two f the In lian tu I d to England, ta 1ng Le) : ( a Ss iE. I eit wl Oo evel i I faithful friend of i "4 J remained the 4 or 1 Ve nche Their names are retained as i 1 se. a ; the English, anc Va the names of tw oO villages on Roanoke Island to-day I heir \ Oo go wi a accounts the d yen ac adve turers and the glo ying arr al h I 1e€, oe . . . O go e 1 scoveries ) aroused t i. . pS ave of their disc I Ss he ram st interest $i he new found countr y was called V irginie 7 I A n . \ og c i as of North America i i 1 th Atlantic coast . a 1r¢ in Queen, anc ; : WwW i O I g i “ h boundaries very ill de iv th ce TS 10ns, Ww it Jas divided int 8 : J q ain, and called 11 i> Tan C England and ~ i! 2 seat fined, cla imed by I ¢ e, g ) i Canada V irginia and Florida. A large part Mee 16 ’ é c SLE was af terwat ds ) W i i Roanoke Isl und, NV hich included 2 : we : patent of Charles I to Sir Robert Heath in 1629, rf n : b 1 i 3 1 1 1665 to the E rds the ch tters of Charles II in 166 anc a O} = S set Oo S ing S named from the Latin Pr ori to =) : set ff as Ca oli a; so a % name, Carol us, of the two Kings. it he née me, theref re V og I I ie I J S1é and the pat ts ad- i ini >) anoke sland c : 1rginla, fi st ap lied to 2.0 N th Cc 13 Ay jacent, originated in what 1s now Wor aroiin and if y i >4 tt “ M otl f St t p irs i ig S she 1S often called, the be ler OF wtates V ginia be, as S . ’ bd . 1 3 N orth Car olina may be said to be her . wh g I yi I F x y 35 y * under comman 1 The ne t year (I whe ) a lar ge expedition, : of Sir Richard Grenville, a cousin of Raleig . ‘ i out. IT here were seven : ships in the fleet—if the sma ATtS I es xeS f them be- cr ft com posing it can b so called, the largest 1) i ied 108 ing of “‘seven score tunnes”’ ee ee men who were to be settled as a permanent - fe) a cae oke Island. The fleet sailed from re an posed ie coal ish: r Jingina, the Indian , wa April, 1585, and on July 3d hte nee” st en notified of its arrival at Roanoke. Manteo < returned with this fleet. 9 On August 25th Sir Richard Grenville, “Our (¢ weyed anker, and set sails for England.” On his return the colony was left in charge of “Master Ralph Lane,” and with him was « Master Philip Amadas, Admiral of the Country,” who had commanded one of the ships in the first expedition. ‘The names of the colonists are all known, a list of which may be seen in Vol. I of Hawks’ History of North Carolina, These colonists founded senerall, a village near he Island, and constructed k, called by I The outlines, ditch still perfectly distinct, a fort, princi- ane “The new fort in Vir- and parapet of this fort are and its angles and sally port are now marked with gtanite blocks. It is now, and h long time, appropriately called “FF Lane has his colonists his own exp] having become home-s and sailed in June, 1586, on the flee for England, where they had scarce Pally an earthwor ginia.” as been fora ort Raleigh.” left a most interesting accou during their stay on Roan orations. nt of the doings of oke Island, and of They remained there } ut one year, ick, discoura ged and disheartened, tof Sir Francis Drake arrived on the 27th of July. They ly gotten out of sight of t despatched by Raleigh, fr plies of al] kinds back to England. Grenville arrive Finding the Isla Possession of the men behind to re he Island when a ship eighted witl 1 provisions and sup- » arrived there, and, finding no one, went About a fortnight later Sir d with three ships similarly nd abandoned, countrey,” he teine it; Richard equipped. “yet unwilling to lose the “determined to leave some whereupon he landed ff in the Isle of Roz 1 fifteen men anoke, furnished plentifully with all man- ner of Provisions for two years, ) land.” s and so departed for Eng- 10 Nothing daunted by the failure—a very costly one—of this first attempt at colonization Sir Walter equipped an- other expedition in the year following, which, however, he intended to settle on the waters of the Chesapeake instead of at Roanoke. ‘This expedition was entrusted to the guid- ance of John White, the grandfather of Virginia Dare, who we will let tell his own story: “In the yeere of our Lord, 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh in- tending to persevere in the planting of his Countrey of Vir- ginia, prepared a newe Colonie of 150 men to be sent thither, under the charge of John White, whom he ap- pointed Governour, and also appointed unto him twelve Assistants, unto whom he gave a Charter, and incorporated them by the name of Governour and Assistants of the Citie of Raleigh in Virginia. Our Fleete being in number three saile, the Admirall a shippe of 120 Tunnes, a Flieboat and a Pinnesse, departed the 26 of April from Portsmouth. * * * * About the 16 of July we fel with the maine of Virginia, and bare along the coast, where in the night, had not Captaine Stafford bene carefull, we had all bene casta- way upon the breach called the Caps of Feare. The 22 of July we arrived at Hatorask: the Governour went aboard the pinesse with forty of his best men, intending to pass up to Roanok forthwith, hoping there to finde those fifteene men which Sir Richard Grenville had left there the yeere before. * * * ‘The same night at sunne-set he went aland, and the next day walked to the North ends of the Island, where Master Ralfe Lane had his forte, with sundry dwellings made by his men about it the yeere before, where we hoped to find some signes of our fifteene men. We ah found the forte rased downe, but all the houses standing unhurt, saving that the neather roomes of them, and also of the forte, were overgrowen with melons, and Deere within them feeding: so wee returned to our company, without hope of ever seeing any of the fifteene men living.” The fifteen men, as was afterwards learned, had been massacred by the Indians. The colonists having landed upon the Island went ac- tively to work to rebuild Fort Raleigh and to make homes for themselves. ‘They consisted of ninety-one men, seven- teen women and nine children, the names of all of whom are preserved. In the former colony there had been neither women nor children and they gave to this one a character of stability and permanence that had been lacking in the first. From a similarity of their names with those of the men, it would appear that at least ten of the women were married, and for a like reason that six of the children were with their parents. Shortly after the arrival of the settlers there occurred two events, or perhaps more properly three, of interest and importance not merely to the little community, but in their relation to the history of this country. These events are thus related in Hakluyt’s Voyages, Vol. III: _ “The 13 of August our Savage Manteo was christened in Roanoke, and called Lord thereof and of Dasamongue- hcae Foal ae of his faithfull service. The 18, Elenor, 4 o. oe 1e Governour, and wife to Ananias Dare, one Akan pe ants, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoke, 1e was christened there the Sunday following, and : : 7 iain ggg: ot | because this child was the first Christian born in Vir- §1nia, she was named Virginia.” 12 These baptisms were, so far as is known to this writer, the first celebrations of record of a Christian Sacrament within the territory of the thirteen original United States. The baptism of Manteo, and his being made Lord of Roanoke were by order of Sir Walter Raleigh, and the lat- ter, it is believed, is the only instance of the conferring of a title of nobility upon a native American. By the Indians “ Blenor Dare,” the first mother of the white race known to them, is said to have been called, in their figurative and descriptive way, “’T'he White Doe,” and her baby, the little Virginia, the first white infant they had ever seen, “ The White Fawn ;” and there is a pretty tradition that ‘after her death her spirit assumed that form—an elfin Fawn, which, clad in immortal beauty, would at times be seen haunting like a tender memory, the place of her birth, or gazing wistfully over the sea, as with pathetic yearning, for the far-away mother land. Another tradition is that in that sweet form she was slain by her lover, a young Indian Chief, who had been told that if he shot her from ambush with a certain enchanted arrow it would restore her to him in human form. Soon after the birth of Virginia, her grandfather, Gov. White, returned to England to obtain supplies for the colo- nists : “The 22 of August the whole company came to the Goy- ernour, and with one voice requested him to return himselfe into England, for the obtaining of supplies and other neces- saries for them; but he refused it, and alleaged many suf- ficient causes why he would not. * * * At the last, through their extreame intreating constrayned to return, he departed from Roanoke the 27 of August.” 13 On the 16th of October he arrived on the Irish coast, and coming to England straightway made efforts to carry succor to his people, but never again did he look upon the faces of his daughter, or his grand-daughter, or of any of their Companions, England was in the midst of her bitter con- test with Spain and the Invincible Armada, and had sore need at home for every man and ship. ‘There was neither time nor means to be devoted to an obscure little company thousands of leagues away in an unknown land beyond the stormy Atlantic. Three years elapsed before White re- turned to Roanoke, and when he came he found it deserted and the settlers gone—whither? No one was left to tell and their fate was enshrouded, and will ever remain, in mystery pathetic. The dead past will not give up its dead Let White himself tell the sad story : a “The 20 of March the three shippes, the Hopewell, the John Evangelist, and the little John, put to sea from Ply- mouth, * * ¥* x The 15 of August we came to an anke - c i tT at Hatorask, and saw a great smoke rise in the Ile Roanok Xoanoke neere the place where I left our Colony in the yeere rc8 Ri Ae ; 5°7- The next morning our two boats went a , ashore and we saw another great smoke; but when we cam i i c € to it we found no man nor signe that any had Cen there lately.” When White left Roanoke to return to England for sup- plies it had be i 7 - ‘ en agreed the ase ists le GTR 2 lat in case the colonists left the cate 1 1s absence they should leave some sign to indi- ate whither they had , pons luress, or in distress, t affixed, thus +, gone, and if their leaving was under he sign of the cross should also be 14 White continues: ‘The 17 of August our boats were prepared againe to go upto Roanoke. * * * * Tow- ard the North ende of the Island we espied the light of a great fire thorow the woods: When we came right over against it, we sounded with a trumpet a Call, and after- wards many familiar English tunes and Songs, and called to them friendly; but we had no answere; we therefore landed and coming to the fire we found the grasse and sun- dry rotten trees burning about the place. * * * * As we entered up the sandy banke, upon a tree in the very browe thereof were curiously carved these faire Romane letters, C. R. O: which letters we knew to signifie the place where I should find the planters seated, according to a secret taken agreed upon betweene them and me, at my last departure from them, which was that they should not faile to write or carve on the trees, or postes of the dores, the name of the place where they should be seated ; and if they should be distressed, that then they should carve over the letters a Crosse in this forme + , but we found no such sign of distresse. We found the houses taken downe and the place strongly enclosed with a high palisado of great trees, with cortynes and flankers very Fortlike, and one of the chief trees at the right side of the entrance had the barke taken off, and five foot from the ground, in fayre Capitall letters, was graven CROATOAN, without any crosse or sign of distresse.”’ The colonists had evidently gone to Croatan, as we now have the word, the home of Manteo, the friendly Chief, the banks and islands of our coast, extending from Hatteras to Beaufort harbor; but none of them was ever seen of white 15 men again. ‘They “died and made no sign ;” though it is believed by many, and with considerable reason, that their descendants may still be found among the Croatan, or, more Properly, Hatteras, Indians of Robeson county. White does not explain satisfactorily why he did not seek his daughter at Croatan, which was not very far away. He says : “The season was so unfit, and weather so foule, that we were constrayed of force to forsake that coast, having not Scene any of our planters, with losse of one of our ship- boats, and seven of our chiefest men. * * * * The 24 of October we came in safetie, God be thanked, to an anker at Plymouth, * * * : Thus committing the re- liefe on of my discomfortable company, the planters in Vir- §inla, to the merciful help of the Almighty, whom I most } Ms . sey beseech to helpe and comfort them, according to Lis most holy will and their good desire, I take my leave.” FA, Be P ald ‘ a Raleigh himself had never visited our shores, where in failure and In this lan from the do disaster had ended all his efforts at settlement d, and where his unfortunate colonists passed main of history into the domain of the unknown. _ And little Virginia Dare, what of her? Did she die in meg and does her dust, mingled with the soil of her Did net Dlossom there into flowers that blush unseen? ob OG BEDS the wandering of the settlers from bts cocci roatan ? Did she grow to womanhood in darks, ice “9 tay life end in tragedy ag the a eas ieee ger ae the fate of the Colony i _From ) past comes no answer. Yet a faint echo, a : : » 4 possible trace of the lost White Fawn, comes to us Ww hich I L av 4 1 lay lave tefe sth) ; ; c Ose f q to her and with it he I . e ‘ rence 4 i t ecor 16 Ir his first volume of ‘“‘ The History of Travaile,” Wm. Strachey, Secretary of the Jamestown Colony, writing in 1612 of events that occurred in Virginia in 1608-10, says: “ At Pecearecemmek and Ochanahoen, by the relation of Machamps, the people have howses built with stone walles, and one story above another, so taught them by those Eng- lish who escaped the slaughter at Roanoke, at what tyme this our Colony under the conduct of Captain Newport landed within the Chesapeake Bay, where the people breed up tame turkies about their howses and take apes in the mountains, and where, at Ritanoe, the Weroance Eyanoco preserved seven of the English alive, ower men, two boys and one young mayde, who escaped the massacre, and fled up the river Chanoke.” (Chowan.) This “young mayde’ may well have been Virginia Dare, who, at the time mentioned, would have been about twenty- one years of age. ‘The extract is of interest, also, as show- ing that the existence, and even the location, of certain of Raleigh’s colonists were well known to the Jamestown set- tlers. Indeed both John Smith and Strachey make men- tion of scattered parties of those colonists several times, and the Virginia Company writes of some of them as “yet alive, within fifty miles of our fort, * * * * as is testified by two of our colony sent out to search them, who, (though denied by the savages speech with them) found crosses * * * and assured Testimonies of Christians newly cut in the barks of trees.’ Here the veil of mystery falls around the White Fawn and her companions probably never to be raised. Ssomely illustrated, with Che Medallion Genealogical Register. A simple and perfect method of recording an indefinite number of ancestors, all lines displayed, at one time. 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