Part two of a four part series on the lost colony of Roanoke.
Shortly
after this instance the English prepared to travel home and arranged to take
two Indians with them, Manteo and Wanchese. Manteo was from the Croatoan
Indians and Wanchese was a Secotan. The English quickly arrived in England and declared
the expedition a success; they announced that Roanoke Island would be a
suitable place for an English colony. The coast of America was rich in natural
resources, but they claimed greater treasures of gold and silver were beckoning
further inland.[i]
Soon
after their return they presented Manteo, Wanchese and Arthur Barlowe’s account
of the exploration to the British court to help generate financial support for a
second voyage for colonization. The Indians were beginning to learn English
with Thomas Hariot who, in turn, was learning their Algonquian language. The
Indians and the aggressive work of Richard Hakluyt, who claimed an American colony
would break Spain’s monopoly of American wealth, built enough support and
funding for Sir Walter Raleigh to send a second voyage to America to plant the
English colony. The support of the Queen was crucial for the colony to happen;
but Raleigh also desired for key political support from Sir Francis Walsingham,
Sir Francis Drake and Sir Richard Grenville, which he was able to acquire
before the 1585 expedition.
For
this expedition Greenville was given charge of the voyage and Raleigh remained in
England as he did for the previous voyage. Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe
went on the expedition as well, serving as officers. One new officer who came
along was experienced military man Colonel Ralph Lane, a sheriff and expert on
fortifications. Manteo and Wanchese also took part in the voyage, as well as
Thomas Hariot and John White. Five ships and six hundred men embarked for
America at the start of spring in 1585.[ii]
During
the voyage the fleet captured two Spanish ships and traveled along the
Caribbean all the way up to the outer banks of Roanoke. When Greenville arrived
he immediately suffered a setback as one of his ships ran aground on a
sandbank, but it was able to be repaired. Once ashore, the English received a
warm welcome back at Pomeiooc and soon traveled up the Pamlico River to another
Indian settlement. This new settlement was Aquascocock and the Indians at the
settlement were immediately suspicious of the English.
They
moved on quickly and soon realized that a silver cup used for communion was
missing and they claimed it was stolen. They blamed the Indians living at
Aquascocock and twelve soldiers returned to demand the return of the cup. When
the cup was not returned, the English soldiers burned the town and their
cornfields down as retribution. They wanted to show the Indians that there were
consequences for disobeying them. It was an aggressive act that made the
Indians view the English as erratic and violent.[iii]
Shortly
after this, Sir Richard Greenville prepared the fleet to return to England and
left on the island a garrison of about a hundred men under the command of Ralph
Lane. A second wave of settlers and supplies was already en route from England,
or so Greenville believed. The second fleet was diverted away from the colony
and ordered to harass Spanish shipping, but the garrison had no knowledge of
it.
Before
Greenville left he aided in the set up of a fort on Roanoke island and ordered
Philip Amadas and twenty men to reconnoiter the area. The small expedition
ended up fighting and killing twenty Weapemeoc men and capturing some women
that they gave to the Secotans, with whom they were allied.[iv]
The men returned and Greenville sailed away, leaving Ralph Lane behind with the
small settlement and the doubting Secotan weroance’s
Granganimeo and Wingina.
The
violence the English showed to other settlements and Indians made the Secotans
particularly uneasy with their alliance. Additionally, Wanchase did not trust
the English and shared this with the Secotan weroance Wingina; the other Indian to travel to England, Manteo,
did trust them and expressed this to the Croatoan Indians on the outer banks
around Roanoke.
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