Finally, neither Bullard’s “Legend of the Coharie,” nor McMillan’s account of Lumbee origins, should be seen as a comprehensive history of tribal ancestry. Lumbees Adolph Dial and David Eliades described the Lumbee tribe as a community consisting of “remnants both of the ‘Lost Colony’ and several Indian tribes of which the Hatteras and various Eastern Siouan peoples were the most prominent.”15 McMillan’s account focuses exclusively on the Croatoan (Hatteras)—Lost Colony connection, but in truth that tradition is retained by just one segment of the Lumbee tribe. Similarly, the Bullard legend should not be viewed as the complete history of the present-day Coharie tribe. Nevertheless, as Ernest Bullard put it, the Lost Colony—Hatteras descendants who “have lived and are now living in Sampson County” are a part of that story.
A few words should be added about the reliability of oral traditions in general and the “Legend of the Coharie” in particular. Since writing was unknown to the native Indian tribes until after the arrival of the Europeans, it is obvious that the oral histories concerning tribal origins cannot be substantiated by traditional documentary methods. Nevertheless, they certainly should not be viewed as historically unreliable and dismissed out of hand. Helen Rountree wrote that individual public recitations of personal exploits by young individual Powhatan tribesmen were often exaggerated,16 but the same should not be assumed about the oral histories of the tribes as a whole. These traditions represent centuries-old memories of tribal origins and identities, and the oral histories of some major tribes date back more than a thousand years.
As stated above, however, the “Legend of the Coharie” is both a tribal history and an account of the role played by George Howe, Jr., and his descendants in the eventual settlement of the Coharie tribe in present-day Sampson County. As such, it is impossible to tell exactly where the Howe-Hall lineage portion of the “Legend of the Coharie” fits on the sliding scale of historical reliability. Furthermore, as noted, the version of the legend that has existed since 1950 must be seen as an annotated and enhanced adaptation of the oral history in its original form, which certainly lacked many of the details added by Bullard in his transcription.
In the final analysis, though, the legend’s version of the aftereffects of the hurricane is compatible with the proposal offered earlier regarding the location of the Lost Colonists’ mainland settlement and its vulnerability to a tidal surge. The migration farther inland to find terrain uncontaminated by the surge, the effects of the sudden dietary change on the surviving colonists, and the encounter with a hostile tribe as they ascended the Neuse are all credible elements within the narrative. And again, perhaps the most remarkable element that contributes reliability to the legend is its unique account of a tidal surge from a hurricane whose occurrence would not be confirmed until its recent discovery in the Spanish archives.
11
John White’s Final Voyage; Roanoke and Croatoan Abandoned
February–October 1590
By February of 1590 plans seemed to be finally in place to resupply the colony in Virginia. In a letter written in 1593 to chronicler Richard Hakluyt describing the events of 1590, John White wrote, “About the end of Februarie in the yeare of our redemption 1590 … there were at the time aforesaid three ships absolutely determined to goe for the West Indies, at the speciall charges of M. Iohn Wattes of London Marchant … for the supplies and reliefes of the planters in Virginia.”1 Once again, however, history seemed to repeat itself for the hapless White, because “when they were fully furnished, and in readinesse to make their departure, a generall stay was commanded of all ships thorowout England. Which so soone as I heard, I presently (as I thought it most requisite) acquainted Sir Walter Ralegh therewith.”2 Through Raleigh’s intercession, White wrote, a license was obtained “for those three ships to proceede on with their determined voyage” and it was agreed that they “should take in, and transport a conuenient number of passengers, with their furnitures and necessaries to be landed in Virginia.”3
When White arrived at the docks with his colonists and supplies, however, Abraham Cooke (sometimes spelled Cocke), captain of the flagship Hopewell, would only allow White to board. As White put it, “I was by the owner and Commanders of the ships denied to haue any passengers, or any thing els transported in any of the said ships, sauing only my selfe and my chest; no not so much as a boy to attend vpon me.”4 With no opportunity to complain to Raleigh, and, after receiving the captain’s assurance that they would make a stop at Roanoke and look for the 1587 colony, White acquiesced and went aboard. It is not clear what White could have expected to accomplish by sailing without any of the sorely needed supplies or additional colonists, other than perhaps to satisfy his own curiosity about the fate of the colonists, who had by then been abandoned for three years.
Here again White seems to have misunderstood what was happening around him. Although John Watts was a London merchant, as White stated, he was better known as a principal in one of the most powerful privateering syndicates in London at that time.5 Watts certainly was “determined to goe for the West Indies,” but the primary objective of the voyage was the capture of Spanish prize ships, not the resupply of the colony in Virginia, as White seemed to think initially. Whatever arrangement White thought had been made regarding the transportation of supplies and additional colonists, neither Captain Cooke nor “the chiefe Commanders” nor “the owner of the said ships” seemed to have any knowledge of it. It was only because of White’s “great sute, and earnest intreatie” that Cooke permitted him to board the Hopewell at all.
Although White doesn’t mention what was happening on the national scene, neither colonization in general nor the 1587 colony in particular was on anyone’s mind—except for White’s—at that time. The “generall stay” was brought about after England had suffered a major defeat at sea just a few months earlier in 1589. The victory over the Spanish Armada did not turn out to be the crushing blow to Spain that was originally thought, and England did not emerge as a great naval and colonial power at that time. In an attempt to land that crushing blow, Queen Elizabeth assembled a “Counter Armada” in 1589 in a bold attempt to destroy the remaining Spanish fleet which was then being refitted at Santander and San Sebastian in northern Spain. As one historian wrote:
A successful strike against the stationary Spanish squadrons would have had history-making consequences. Deprived of the core of his Atlantic fleet, Philip not only would have been impaired in his capacity to wage war in Europe; he also would have lost his capacity to effectively guard and secure his New World Empire. The Americas would have been rapidly opened to competitors, and Spain’s own uncertain grip on its New World possessions would have been pried free. Argentina and Peru may have become the first colonies of the British Empire. Spanish colonies in North America would have been stillborn as the English and French were finally free to exploit their frustrated ambitions in the 16th century. The Spanish treasure galleons still lingered as a mouth-watering prize, and a major precious metals transport was moving into Iberian waters in 1589.6
Although the English fleet was led by two proven naval commanders, Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris, the operation was a disaster. The reasons for the defeat of the “English Armada” need not concern us here, but the results are relevant. Spain would re-emerge with a more powerful navy, better capable of both thwarting English privateers and transporting treasure safely from America.7 England, on the other hand, emerged militarily and financially weaker, and colonization would not be attempted again for nearly two decades.
Thus it was, then, that on March 20, 1590, after an absence of nearly three years, John White finally sailed from England aboard the Hopewell in a belated effort to re-establish contact with his abandoned colony. The Hopewell was accompanied by the John Evangelist, and the Little John, and would later be joined by the Moonlight and another pinnace. After several successful privateering encounters with Spanish ships in the Caribbean, Cooke headed northward, as promised, to try to make contact
with the colony left at Roanoke in 1587. By August 15 they were anchored off Hatorask, and the next morning White, Cooke, and Edward Spicer set out with a party of men in boats towards Roanoke. It is worth pointing out here that they did not sail directly to the Chesapeake, a further indication that White must have known that the colonists would not have relocated there. Encouraged at first by columns of smoke rising from Roanoke and Kenricks Mount to the south, they spent the day investigating the sources of the smoke, which turned out to be naturally caused brushfires. The search at Roanoke would wait until the next morning.
In the afternoon of August 17, however, one of the two boats overturned while trying to navigate the inlet at Hatorask, drowning seven of the eleven on board. One of the drowned men was Edward Spicer, captain of the flyboat on the 1587 voyage. The nineteen remaining men rowed on to Roanoke, but darkness prevented them from searching effectively and “we overshot the place a quarter of a mile.” At daybreak on the 18th White, Captain Cooke, and the rest of the crewmen, searched the island and finally arrived at the deserted settlement at the north end of Roanoke where the colony was left three years earlier. White made a number of observations and discoveries there. He noted that the dwellings had been disassembled, an indication that the colonists had moved them to the new settlement location for re-assembly, and that a strong palisade surrounded the abandoned settlement, obviously constructed after his departure in August of 1587. He also found that the colonists had taken their smaller ordnance with them, but left behind heavy armament and other items too difficult to transport. The most important discoveries made by White, of course, were the two carved messages left by the colony directing him to Croatoan. As mentioned previously, these messages are the only undisputed primary source evidence we have from the Lost Colony after August 27, 1587.
White’s reaction to these messages merits closer examination. It is somewhat curious that White appears to have concluded from the messages that his colony was permanently settled at Croatoan in 1590. He wrote that the carved messages were meant “to signifie the place, where I should find the planters seated,” and again that the carvings indicated “the name of the place where they should be seated.”8 He later wrote that “I greatly ioyed that I had safely found a certaine token of their safe being at Croatoan.”9 The next morning, White wrote, he attempted to “…goe for the place at Croatoan, where our planters were.”10 There can be little doubt that White intended his account to convey his assurance that the 1587 colony was settled “at Croatoan which is the place where Manteo was borne, and the Sauages of the Iland our friends.”11
According to White’s account of the 1590 voyage, stormy weather, broken anchor cables, and a shortage of fresh water prevented the Hopewell from making the stop at Croatoan. White claimed unconvincingly that it was initially agreed to sail to the Caribbean, spend the winter there, and then return to Croatoan in the spring of 1591. That idea was soon abandoned, however, and they eventually sailed back to England, arriving on October 24. We are led to believe—and it is widely accepted—that, had it not been for the various mishaps, John White would have made the short trip to Croatoan and been reunited with his colonists.
White, of course, had no knowledge of the critical events that had occurred in 1588 and 1589, or that his colony had probably already ceased to exist. He must have been aware, however, that Croatoan was deserted in 1590 … despite his unwavering assurance that his colony was safely settled there.
This conclusion is supported, once again, by the details contained in White’s own account of the 1590 voyage. As was the case with his version of the 1587 voyage, White’s credibility as narrator is dubious here too. Virtually all of the historical interest in White’s 1590 return voyage to Roanoke has been focused on August 18 and 19 when White discovered the carvings left by his colony and then failed to reach Croatoan. Little or no attention has been paid to the less sensational but equally important events that occurred between August 12 and August 16, before White and the fleet reached Roanoke. During that time there was certainly one, probably two, and perhaps three opportunities for any colonists on Croatoan to communicate, either by signal fire, shot, or even direct personal contact, with the English ships Hopewell and Moonlight.
The first opportunity occurred on August 12 as the English ships made their way from Wokokon along the barrier islands northward toward Croatoan on their way to Roanoke. White wrote that they first anchored near Wokokon on August 9 and “on the 12 in the morning we departed from thence and toward night we came to an anker at the Northeast end of the Iland of Croatoan.”12 If any colonists had been on Croatoan in 1590, they would likely have been aware of English or Spanish ships’ sails heading northward on the usual route up the present-day Carolina coast. In the case of an English ship approaching, signal fires would have been lit and initial contact probably made on August 12. No signals of any kind were detected as the ships sailed slowly northward along the coast of Croatoan.
The best opportunity for contact occurred later on August 12 and also on the 13th when the English ships actually anchored at Croatoan. As the ships were passing Croatoan, the English observed a breach or channel at the north end of the island and decided to anchor there. (This was the same shallow inlet referred to earlier that was unnamed in 1590, but was later called Chacandepeco and closed in 1672.) They remained at that position through the night of the 12th and on the following morning, August 13, they sent smaller boats “to sound ouer this breach: This breach is in 35. degr. and a halfe, and lyeth at the very Northeast point of Croatoan”13 (italics added). They spent the morning taking a number of depth soundings at this channel “whereas goeth a fret out of the maine Sea into the inner waters, which part the Ilandes and the maine land.”14 They found a “great diversity of soundings” in this channel where the smaller boats would have come very close to the Croatoan shoreline. It is impossible to think that the English could have been anchored at this location from the 12th to the 13th and undertaken these sounding activities without the knowledge of anyone—native or colonist—on Croatoan, particularly near the north end of the island.
As shown on the White/de Bry map, there was, in fact, a Croatoan village at the north end of the island during that time period. John White drew his map during the 1585 Grenville-Lane expedition, and it was published in 1590 by Theodor de Bry. White, who had first-hand knowledge of Croatoan, placed three distinct Indian towns there. Two of these were in the central portion of the island and the third was located very near the northern tip, not far from the point where the ships were anchored and very close to the “breach” where the smaller boats would have been taking and calling out soundings. Since White had no information about the whereabouts of his colonists at this point, one wonders why he did not attempt to visit the nearby and familiar Croatoan village during this delay, unless of course he already realized that the island must have been abandoned.
The activities of the English ships would have either been directly observed by anyone there, or communicated quickly from the nearby village to any remaining colonists—or Croatoans—elsewhere on the island. If any colonists were at Croatoan on August 12 and 13, they surely would have made direct contact at that time with the ships in some manner. On August 18 when White found the “Croatoan” messages at Roanoke, he must have understood that the colony could not have been at Croatoan five days earlier, despite the assurances he gave in his account.
Three days after the soundings were taken at the breach at Croatoan, there was even another possible opportunity for contact by any colonists or friendly Indians at Croatoan. On the morning of August 16, White, along with Captains Cooke and Spicer and others, manned two boats and headed for Roanoke as the Hopewell fired off “2 Minions and a Falkon” to announce their arrival. Before they were half way there, however, they saw smoke “to the Southwest of Kindrikers mountes”15 and decided to venture there first, even though it was a much greater distance. They were disappointed to find that the smoke was not from a man-made fire after
all, and “Being thus wearied with this iourney we returned to the harbour where we left our boates … [and] deferred our going to Roanoak vntill the next morning.”16
This potential contact opportunity on August 16 depends on the actual location of Kindrikers mountes to the south of Roanoke. Kindrikers mountes, also called Kenricks mount, was, in the late 16th century, a large conspicuous sand dune situated along the narrow barrier island chain well south of Roanoke. Due to the changing configuration of the Outer Banks over the centuries, its exact location is not precisely known today. General consensus locates Kindrikers mountes at what is called Wimble Shoals just offshore from present-day Rodanthe, which is located about half way between Roanoke and Hatteras/Croatoan.
If White was on a southerly course to the vicinity of present day Rodanthe to locate the origin of the smoke, as his account indicates, he would have been heading towards Croatoan along the eastern shore of Pamlico Sound. Any colonists or friendly Indians on Croatoan who, for whatever reason, missed the direct contact opportunities on August 12 and 13, would have now been heading northward towards Roanoke in an attempt to intercept the English ships. These colonists and/or Indians would have either met White’s group heading south on August 16, or else would have reached Roanoke and met the English there before August 19, when the English ships finally departed. No such encounter ever occurred.
It should also be noted that the 30–35 tun pinnace in possession of the 1587 Lost Colony was nowhere to be found during the week of August 12–19, 1590. White specifically mentioned that “we could perceiue no signe of them [the pinnace or the smaller boats]” on the 18th when they searched Roanoke and “along by the water side.”17 There was also no sign of the pinnace on the 12th and 13th when the Hopewell and Moonlight were anchored off Croatoan. Given the absence of the pinnace and the fact that nothing ever came of the several contact opportunities between August 12 and 19, it must have been evident to White that neither the pinnace, nor his colony, nor anyone for that matter, could have been on Croatoan at that time. The evidence points decidedly to the conclusion already discussed in an earlier chapter, that Croatoan was abandoned by both colonists as well as the Croatoan tribe in September of 1589, and that it was still abandoned in August of 1590 when White returned.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke Page 16