Albemarle Tradewinds July 2017 Web Final

The
Outer
Banks
Wave
It's not just another wave,
it's an experience.
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Digging for the Truth
By Scott Dawson
The mythology of the lost colony began in 1937 with
Paul Green’s play. The idea that 117 colonists were left
on Roanoke Island and vanished without a clue was
created to sell tickets and create a mystery. Prior to
the play no one considered the colony lost, in fact most
people had never heard of the colony at all before the
play immortalized them. The play therefore is a double
edge sword, it immortalized a period in history but at
the same time completely overshadowed the actual
history with fictional drama. For example, the colony
was never lost, Manteo and Wanchese were not chiefs
nor were either of them from Roanoke Island and they
never fought each other.
So what really happened? To understand the fate of
the colony one must understand the voyages that came
from England to America before the 1587 colony. One
must understand the historical context, the situation
that colony was left in when the Governor departed to
get supplies. We all know the Governor John White
instructed the colony to carve the name of where they
relocated to on a tree or door frame and to put a cross
under it if they left for danger. We also know that when
White returned in 1590 he found the word CROATOAN
carved in all capital letters on a palisade that surrounded
where the settlement had been but the houses,
boats and colonists were gone.
Croatoan is Hatteras Island and is the first place the
English actually landed in 1584. It was on Croatoan
that they first met Manteo and on Croatoan that the
English lived for 6 weeks in 1584 and for a few months
in 1585. The English had a good relationship with the
Croatoan. Perhaps this is why in 1587 when one of the
“lost” colonists (George Howe) was killed on Roanoke
the Governor sent Manteo and 25 Englishmen to Croatoan
to find out who had killed him and if peace could be
made. The Croatoan hosted the English to a feast and
told them it was the Secotan tribe that had killed Howe.
Upon reconnecting with the Croatoan White wrote:
“We answered them [Croatoan] that our coming was
only to renew the old love that had existed between us
and them at the first and to live among them as brethren
and friends.”
This made since because the Secotan had also
attacked a group of 15 Englishmen in 1586 killing two
of them. It is not that the Secotan were blood thirsty
savages, the English had murdered the Secotan chief,
Wingina and burned down a Secotan village in 1585
starting the conflict. The Croatoan and Secotan were
mortal enemies too. In 1587, before White left the
Croatoan raided a Secotan village where Mann’s harbor
is today and stole all the corn, pumpkins and shared it
with the English.
When White saw Croatoan carved on the palisade
there was no doubt in his mind the colony had gone to
Croatoan, their only ally in the New World and a place
the English had lived before. He stated
“The next morning it was agreed by the captain,
myself with the master and others to weigh
anchor and go for the place at Croatoan where
our planters were.”
Unfortunately a storm rolled up and blew
White and 23 miles out to sea. John White had
hitched a ride with what amounted to pirates.
They were not concerned with the colony and
wanted to go home. Seven of them had already
died including Captain Spicer, John White’s
only real friend on the ship. When he died so
did White’s influence over the crew and they
headed home shipwrecking in Ireland. White
later wrote to Queen Elizabeth’s court historian,
Richard Hyklut:
“I was greatly joyed that I had safely found a
certain a token of their safe being at Croatoan,
which is the place where Manteo was born and
the savages of the Island our friends.”
There is absolutely no reason to think the colony did not
go to Croatoan because the historical documents are
very straight forward about it. Conversely, the adjacent
mainland was at war with the English and had already
killed one of the colonists by shooting him sixteen times
with arrows and smashing his brains in with a club.
The real mystery is why no one ever looked for the colony
in their stated destination. Alas some professional
finally have taken a look at Hatteras Island. Digging
in one of the many Croatoan village sites that dot the
land between Buxton and Hatteras village, 16th century
English artifacts HAVE BEEN FOUND in the Croatoan
villages. They are on display in Hatteras village under
the care of the Croatoan Archaeological Society (CAS)
and were dug up by Dr. Mark Horton of the University
of Bristol, England. Bristol and the CAS have been conducting
digs for 10 years and continue to find thousands
of artifacts.
The only problem is that since the English lived and
traded with the Croatoan in 1584 and 1585 and 1587
it is hard to determine exactly on which voyage these
artifacts came to Croatoan. Common sense tells you
the colony went to Croatoan but proving it for sure may
take a few more digs. The oral history of the Hatteras
tribe told John Lawson in 1701 that:
“Several of their ancestors were white people who
could speak out of a book as we do the truth of which is
confirmed by gray eyes being found frequently amongst
these Indians and no others….an uncontested truth
amongst the inhabitants of this place: which is that
the ship which brought the first colonies does appear
among them which they call Sir Walter Raleigh’s ship
and the truth of this has been affirmed to me by men of
the best credit in the country.”
If one can forget the mythology about the colony being lost and
focus on the real history both written and oral as well as the archaeology,
it is no longer a mystery and for that matter never was. Go to
Hatteras and see the artifacts for yourself, it is free. They are in the
community building behind the Hatteras Library. Keep an eye out for
National Geographic, Travel Channel and Discovery Channel, which
have all been covering the archaeology on Hatteras. The most in
depth coverage however is in the documentary “Finding Croatoan” by
Rain Bennette, which will be out next year.
As a teacher I encourage anyone interested in any aspect of history
to read the primary sources. Look at any science that has been done
and don’t get your information from popular fiction. What you will find
is the truth and the truth about the colony is they were never lost.
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28 Albemarle Tradewinds July 2017 albemarletradewinds.com