Roanoke's vanished colonists left one clue, a word carved into a fence
When John White finally returned to Roanoke Island in 1590, delayed by war with Spain, the settlement he had left stood fortified and empty. The only clue was CROATOAN, carved into the palisade. White took it to mean the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island, but rough seas and a lost anchor forced him home.
Roanoke was Sir Walter Raleigh's bid to plant the first permanent English settlement in North America. His charter of March 25, 1584, required a colony by 1591, but Queen Elizabeth forbade him to leave her side, so he ran things from London. A scouting voyage that year came back with glowing reports and two Native men, Wanchese, a Secotan, and Manteo, a Croatan whose mother led Croatoan Island. Elizabeth named the land Virginia.
The first colony, founded in 1585 under Governor Ralph Lane, was essentially a military outpost. Its flagship Tiger struck a shoal and ruined most of the food, so only about 100 men stayed. Strained relations with some local tribes and scarce supplies wore the settlers down, and when Richard Grenville's resupply ran late, Lane sailed home with Francis Drake in 1586. Grenville arrived two weeks afterwards and left a small detachment to hold the claim.
A second group under John White, sent to found a Cittie of Raleigh on Chesapeake Bay, landed in 1587, but the pilot Simon Fernandes forced them to stay on Roanoke. White went back to England for supplies, meaning to return in 1588; the Anglo-Spanish War held him up until 1590. Among those left behind was his infant granddaughter, Virginia Dare.
What happened remains unresolved. Writings from as early as 1605 suggest the settlers merged with nearby Native communities, while Jamestown colonists heard reports of a massacre and tales of European-featured people in Native villages; none proved conclusive. Interest faded until 1834, when George Bancroft's history of the United States cast the colonists, and especially Virginia Dare, as founding figures. Thomas Harriot's survey of the region, published in 1588, survives, with engravings of White's drawings added in 1590.
Source: Roanoke Colony
