This Day in History: John White, Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony

On this date in history, July 22, 1587, John White, appointed Governor of the Roanoke colony by Sir Walter Raleigh, arrived with his expedition of 150 colonists. The story of the lost colony of Roanoke is a fascinating one of missteps, misfortunes and intrigue.

Three years earlier, in 1584, Raleigh sent a small expedition to explore the east coast of North America. They arrived on Roanoke July 4th, met with the native people and soon returned with favorable reports.

Sir Raleigh sent a larger, second expedition with a fleet of five ships. Sir Richard Grenville led the English flotilla aboard the Tiger. During a relentless storm, the Tiger was separated from her sister ships, but managed to find port in the Bay of Muskito, Puerto Rico.

Grenville was there long enough to build a fort, but left it abandoned June 7th. After colliding with a shoal and completing the necessary repairs, he reunited with three of the five original ships in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

It wasn’t long before an incident arose to disrupt the relations with the native people. A silver cup went missing and it was blamed on the natives of the Aquascogoc village. For that the village was burned.

Provisions low, Grenville departed for England on August 17th, 1585, leaving 107 men led by Ralph Lane, to build a fort. Grenville’s party did not return by the promised April, and in June the fort was attacked in retaliation for the silver cup incident.

When Sir Francis Drake sailed through a short time later, the colonists were more than ready to accept a ride back to England. Of course, Grenville,with his fresh provisions and men arrived shortly after Drake’s departure.

Finding an empty colony, he then returned once again to England, leaving a small band of men to protect Sir Raleigh’s claim to Roanoke. Fast forward to 1587, when Sir Raleigh sends forth a new expedition of 150 colonists, this time led by John White, to colonize Chesapeake Bay.

First stop on the way was Roanoke, July 22, 1587, to gather the small English band left behind by Grenville. What they found on Roanoke, however, was one skeleton. To make matters worse, the fleet’s commander refused to let the colonists return to the ships.

Desperate, unsuccessful attempts were made to reinstate friendly relations with the native people. At the end of 1587, after a colonist looking for crabs was killed by natives, Governor White did return to England with a plea for help.

With instructions to carve a Maltese cross into a nearby tree if any malice happened, he left behind 115 men and women, including his granddaughter, Virginia Dare. Virginia was the first English child to be born in the Americas.

Governor White attempted to return with aid, but found no sea captains willing to sail during the winter months. Soon every ship in the English command was sent into battle during the Spanish Armada. Finally, he secured two small vessels that would take him to Roanoke, only to be captured by the Spanish, their cargo taken.

With no supplies left they returned to England. Because of the war with Spain, it would be August 18, 1590–the third birthday of his granddaughter, Virginia–before White would arrive at Roanoke.

It was deserted, with no trace of the men, women or children, nor any clue as to what happened, save the word “Croatoan” and part of the word “Cro”, carved into the fort palisade.

Without the cross carved into the tree, Governor White hoped the clue meant they had departed for Croatoan Island, now known as Hatteras. But once again, a terrible storm prevented him from following. Eventually he returned to England and no trace of the lost colony and little Virginia Dare have ever been found.