The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-05-29
THE . CRoATAN INDIANS,

Ter consideration the Indian appropriation bill a
clip from the Congressional RecOrd) was deliy-
tate. To some of our readers it contains nothing
j our younger readers can study it with profit
} generous benifcence of the American
people, than the Croatan Indians of
North Carolina. They, beyond cavil
or doubt, are the descendants of the
lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh,
about which there have been for
over three hundred years so many
sad reflections.
"Those at all familiar with the at
tempts at colonization made by our
English ancestors may recall the eff
forts of that gallant knight and
learned and ambitious favorite of
Queen Elizabeth.
"Not only could Sir Walter Raleigh
throw his cloak on the wet ground
that it might serve as a fOotcloth
for the dainty shoe of Elizabeth, but
he sought to extend the domains of
her Most Gracious Majesty that her
reign might become memorable in
the annals of history and her Empire
strengthened and enriched,
'In the year 1884 Raleigh fitted out
a fleet of ships under Amadas and
Barlow and discovered the country
that is now known as North Carolina,
but then called Virginia, in honor of
the virgin Queen. Soon thereafter
he began to make efforts to colonize
the new Eldorado. Two attempts
failed; but undaunted in 1887, in
three ships under John White, whom
he appointed governor, he sent over
III persons, including II women, and
of the fate of these people nothing
is known or has been discovered with
absolute certainty from that day to
this, unless this is shown by the re-
marks l shall now make, and which
was first attempted by my old friend
and preceptor, Hamilton Mcmillan.
These III cOlOnists wer left on ROa-
nOke Island, near the 'harbor of
HatOrask,' and there, on August Is,
1887, the daughter of Governor
White, the wife of Ananias Dare,
gave birth to a daughter, the first
white child born on American soil,
and named and baptized, in honor of
Her Majesty, Virginia Dare.
1.-The ships, leaving the colony, re-
turned for the supplies and recruits,
but when they reached England the
Kingdom was agitated by a a threat
ened invasion from Spain. After the
Spanish Armada was defeated, and
when peace was N more restored
Raleigh looked around to provide for
the relief of his colony which he had
planted in the New World a few
years before. But it was not until
1890 that Governor White was dis
despatched to their rescue, and when
he reached Roanoke, in August, he
found the island deserted no trace of
a human being could be found, but
at the site of the village where the
settlers were left nearly three years
before there was found a tree which
had been deprived of it's bark and
bore, in clear and welI-cutc characters,
the word 'Croatan.'
"There had been an understanding
by White with the colonists before
leaving that if he should remove
their location they should carve on
a tree the name of the place to which
they had gone and if they were il
danger of sore distress they should
} carve a cross above the name on the
tree. White finding the absence OF
h cross was buoyed with the hope
OF their discovery, but after all eff
forts to trace them had proved fruit
less, he was forced to abandon the
T search and reluctantly returned tc
e England.