The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1889-02-08
THE LOST COLONY.
AN INTER ESTING AND VALUABLE
HISTORY OF THE CROATANS.
Three Hundred Years Ago Sir Walter
Raleigh Planted Il Colony on the Coast

HISTORY OF THE CROATANS.
Three Hundred Years Ago Sir Walter
Raleigh Planted IA Colony ON the Coast
OF North tarOiina--Jhe CrOatans.
Especial Cor. STATE CHRoNICLE.l
CHAPEL HILL, n. c., Feb 4.-One OF the
saddest stories in history is the disappear
ance of the colony of English people plant
ed by Sir Walter Raleigh on the coast of
North Carolina three hundred years ago.
There were about one hundred and twenty
of them, men, women and children, and
they left absolutely no trace by which their
fate might be more than guessed at. We're
they murdered by the hostile Indians? or
We're they incorporated among some friend
" tribe! Silence hangs over it all, and a
dark cloud of hopeless conjecture. They
vanished from the spot where they had
been first settled, and none of the ships
sent out charged with the duty of succor-
ing them or ascertaining their fate, seem
to have done more than make sure they
had abandoned that first settlement. No
! attempt was made to follow up the sole
slight indication that they had removed
to "Cr0atan.n Gov. White sailed away
and left his daughter and grand child to
their fate, whatever it may have been.
Where was "Croatan?" Nobody seems to
| have been sure The weather was stormy
and there was more profit to be had in
cruising outside for Spanish prizes than
in searching up and down the Alhemarle
and Panlico for a lost colony, and SO the
ships put to sea again with as little loss of
time as possible.
We may imagine how the colony look
ed, and longed, and wept, through long
years of suspense for the help from home
that never came. They seem not to have
been murdered They had gone to ''Croa-
tan" and the Croatan Indians were GER
tainly a friendly tribe. This is all we have
10 rely upon
Il will astonish many North Caroilnians
| to know that the Croatan tribe still exists,
a distinct people, among US, living on the
| Moth side of the Cape Fear; still proud OF
/ their Indian blood, and still marked by it
/ and by Indian traits. More than this they
/ claim English ancestry. they cherish the
! traditions Of English parentage, they still
employ English words that Were III use
/ three hundred years ago, and they have
strongly marked English characteristics
They are land owners, they are land-cui-
tivators and they are road-makers. Above
ALL they have the English family names
SIN G 3mmon among them that are found
in lie list of Sir Walters ill-fatt d colony.
1t is a we'll asvertdined fact that spanish
S,9a,,jlb ia,,1,I,,g,a Iii ara fonnd in
| he islands that dot e ocean on the
! Northern shores Of Great Britain, and that
there are traces of the spanish sailors and
soldiers thrown on those islands in the
wreck Of the grand Armada three hundred
years ago.
Nothing IS more Interesting than such
-; - of X ,n6
% t.I fy,di, :; pot,s--, bo,-,
- tii. ~,
Io''no az - ilt9' M,,;, az '-,,J
o. ~ gr,b r,I ,ar,ri,.r
tIe3 M I ~ CoIon,., ;, rhich concerns
the Croatans ana i likely TO 4 tfu,e a
a,,.,i..nad ;,,+arss+ IA ;ro,irv Ue
"le'eis 9" - s'tiSt
s[lll,. 81, ~ q ,''-''
80 Thosa ,aonia bl,lnno intar7,ix+nra of
o+iar ~ tEn,,14sr I'D Tnaian hIold
a,,onq tbarn and thev ara rrond sf rha
So Tbo,- la1-a sl,rs.,s .ida;re,, ai,,iI,.
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r,d i,,dil.nar7+ ha;nlt rsssa3 49,
..,,1at,oa,' -, .frao ,orSarS of noior,
~, s,,ao;,1 ohiact = no yra,,lfnd br
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pe3Dile 80 - 80 - =" - - ''''i-
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