by Lee Miller
The question is: Why was White the person sent back? Was the choice logical? If the colonists’ situation on Roanoke was so perilous that they considered it essential to dispatch someone to England, why was the Governor of the colony the necessary selection? There can be only one reason. The sole characteristic that set White apart from the others was the fact that he was Governor. He was the single most important person in authority. He held the power.
This is a clue. It is reasonable to conclude from this that the problems the colonists were experiencing were not confined entirely to Roanoke. Somehow, they involved England. Otherwise, why send back the Governor? If the colonists anticipated that they would not receive a proper audience due to the fame and, therefore, inaccessibility of their patron Raleigh, White had only to delegate his authority to an appointed officer and send him home with a letter. At first this was what he tried to do. But the colonists begged him with great persistence. They seemed frantic. Why? Could their fear have had something to do with the enemies White said they had? These very enemies were the reason White did not want to go back himself, afraid that his return as Governor would jeopardize their credibility.
Where does the political situation in England fit in? Was there something in the nature of the colonists themselves that not only prompted them to go to America in the first place, but also convinced them that their petition in England might go unheard? That also explained why their project had enemies? If they as a group were in a weak position, they might certainly expect no outside help short of sending home the Governor himself As incredible as it sounds, were they, in fact, political or religious dissidents? Or was there something more going on behind the scenes? It is time to examine what we know of John White’s colonists.
7 THE COLONISTS
Now have they taken leave of worldly pleasures all.
That young and lusty were to live; and now to toil they fall.
That finely were brought up; yea now they bid adieu,
The glittering Court, the gallant town, the gorgeous garments new;
The bravery of this world, the pride and pomp of earth,
And look not backward any way to riches, race, or birth;
To worthy wife or friend, to babes nor nearest kin;
But only to the Lord above, and journey they are in.
Thomas Churchyard, embarkation poem1
The City of Raleigh
It is difficult to place the colonists. The historical record is meager. The contract detailing their arrangement with Raleigh to settle in America is missing. All writing and correspondence between them, nonexistent. Or misplaced. What we do know is that the colony was organized as a corporation under the title of The Governor and Assistants of the Cittie of Raleigh in Virgínea. Papers were drawn and signed on January 7, 1587. The designated Governor was John White. Twelve colonists were named as Assistants. Together, they make up the first founders of the original and renowned City of Raleigh.2
The corporation, as organized, was largely autonomous. Raleigh retained jurisdiction over his North American holdings under the terms of his original patent, subleasing a portion to the colony. His personal seal, dated early 1585, reads: Walter Raleigh, Knight, and Governor of Virginia. However, the seal is later amended, omitting all mention of administering Virginia. Walteri Ralegh: Militis: Gardian: Stannar: Cornue: et: Devon + Capitán: Gard: Reg: et: Gubernator: Insulae: de: Jersey3 Governor of Jersey, but not Virginia.
The City of Raleigh was designed as a joint-stock corporation, and the individual colonists were expected to invest their own money. In return, each was to receive a grant of at least five hundred acres to a man, even if the initial investment, for whatever reason, were waived. This implies that many of the colonists, perhaps the majority, were wealthy enough to finance their own voyage, with a lesser number — tradesmen or servants — volunteering only the adventure of his person.4 Whoever the colonists were, they clearly were not the begging poor.
A Trail Obscure
Despite the little information we have, we must try to work up a profile. What could the colonists’ motivation have been for emigrating from England? To try their fortune or increase their wealth? Escape corruption? Avoid persecution? Were they strangers, or a group who knew each other intimately and functioned as a body? Any selection we make must fit the known facts and also contribute to our understanding of circumstances that, so far, appear inexplicable.
For the sake of argument, let us suppose that White’s colonists were a Separatist congregation. Corruption and persecution would be their chief concerns. If so, then their voluntary departure from England on the eve of Whitgift’s crackdown in 1587 was an extremely smart move. A smart move, but a very dangerous one. Because Raleigh was their only lifeline. An interesting hypothesis, for, were it true, it would explain unequivocally why the colonists assumed they would receive no help in England short of sending home the Governor himself to set matters right.
So far, so good. We continue. Very few of the colonists have been identified with any certainty.5 The surnames are common, records patchy or nonexistent. The difficulty is compounded by choice. For example, a Mark Bennett is listed in the Essex records of the 1580s as a farmer. Was this the same Mark Bennett who was a Lost Colonist in 1587? We assume so, but we cannot be sure.
Tentative identifications indicate that the colonists were relatively influential. There was a John Jones, physician; a William Browne, goldsmith; an Anthony Cage, sheriff; a Thomas Hewet, lawyer; Thomas Harris, faculty at Cambridge; Richard Wildye, graduate of Oxford. Others were listed as gentlemen, though admittedly two had criminal records, having been jailed for theft.
Why Leave a Homeland?
If the colonists were merely lesser gentry or aspiring members of society, hungry for position, we would understand their eagerness to embrace all that America offered. Oddly, few seem to have done so. There were few volunteers. We might expect the incentive of five hundred acres to spark a land rush, land in England being scarce. It did not. In fact, far from prompting a headlong dash, White tells us that many of the colonists came only as a result of his persuasions.6 Master White, said John Gerard, was an excellent painter who carried very many people into Virginia . there to inhabit.7 His urging, his responsibility. Since the colonists were expected to finance their own voyage, and since the names identified thus far were people of substance who required considerable persuading in order to go, what are we to think?
What would induce people with financial interests in England to leave everything they owned and all that was familiar to make a long and perilous journey into an unknown wilderness from which they could not readily return?8 Raleigh had difficulty mustering people even willing to invest in Virginia, let alone go and live there!
Furthermore, the colonists left England at a time when relations with Spain were deteriorating rapidly. In fact, the Spanish Armada was preparing for attack; a terrible fact known and dreaded throughout England. This was a war year! The majority of adventurers left wives and children behind to be sent for at a later date. So why would anyone abandon business and family in the face of such political turmoil? Panic was sweeping England, predictions were rife that the country would fall. The colonists must have been aware that resupply would be difficult. Why not wait until the crisis blew over? Without doubt, White had to persuade them! Still, how did he do it? And how did he convince nine young couples with children, a nursing mother, and two pregnant women to go?9
Separatists Again
Impossible … unless, and herein lies support for the theory, they were already a coherent body — a congregation even — beginning to feel the heat. The pressure intensifying from Whitgift on the one hand. The specter of the Spanish Inquisition looming with the Armada on the other. A body who knew White and trusted him. Who had very strong motives for forming a community far away from London, war or no war.
If not this explanation, then why the inordinate concern expressed by the colonists that their resupply on Roanoke might not be un
dertaken? If their apprehension stemmed only from the war, of being lost in the shuffle, what did they imagine White could accomplish that one of the Assistants could not? Certainly people of some stature — the goldsmith, the lawyer, the physician — would be able to make their cause felt in London. White may have been Governor, but he was merely an artist, wasn’t he? Not a wealthy or powerful businessman with connections and associates who could make things happen. Yet, for some reason, they needed White to go. This is evident from a petition signed, not only by the Assistants, but diverse others, as well women, as men, to ask White — no, they most earnestly entreated and incessantly requested, in effect, begged White — to return to England for the better and more assured help.10
Without concrete proof, we have nothing more than a theory that the Lost Colony was a congregation of Separatists. What is the evidence? And is there a connection between this and their mysterious disappearance?
Mottoes and Crosses
Pieces of information, insignificant in themselves, may supply an answer when taken together. The coat of arms for Raleigh City, for example: a white shield emblazoned with a simple red cross. A roebuck in the first quarter, set on a hart of concord. The motto, Concordia: Parva Crescunt — in unity, the weak become strong. Small things increase.11 A powerful statement for a small settlement with a great future, or for a persecuted congregation given latitude to thrive and prosper.
Crosses figure prominently in the colony’s brief history. Is there something to the symbolism? St. George’s cross, red on a white field — symbol of England, the triumph of good over evil — has a similar look. Without a hart of concord in its quarterings. But there was another cross connected with the colony. We have seen it in White’s plea to the colonists to carve it as a sign of distress. Not their own symbol, the plain, unembellished cross. But a cross formé: &. A cross used in heraldry. The kind sewn onto the gowns of Anglican archbishops. A Catholic Crusader’s cross. From whom did the threat come?
Enemies
It may have come from Whitgift. It certainly came from Spain. Spain, which sent out missions to sweep the Atlantic coast, searching for them. If discovered, White’s colony would have been destroyed as swiftly as Laudonniére’s Huguenot settlement in Florida. Catholic Spain. The Inquisition. These are the entities to fear. / willed them, that if they should happen to be distressed in any of those places, that then they should carve over the letters or name, a cross & in this form.12
By the time the Brownist bill was introduced into Parliament in 1593, the idea of utilizing North America as a religious refuge was at least ten years old. In 1583 Raleigh’s brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had hoped to settle Catholic recusants in Newfoundland, with Dr. Dee compiling lists of Catholic adventurers, promoting it as part of England’s overseas colonization effort.13
There was talk of banishing dissident Separatists throughout Elizabeth’s reign: to Scotland, to Canada. The Queen stipulating that they should not return unless they conformed. Our land. likes not you, writes Joseph Hall,… when it is weary of peace, it will recall you.14 Emigration of dissidents was a one-way ticket.
We see Richard Hakluyt comparing White’s colony to Laudonniére’s Huguenot settlement in Florida, commending Raleigh for those which are to be employed in your own like enterprise. Like enterprise? What does he mean — similar because the settlement is in North America? Or because, like the Huguenots, they happen to be a reformed body? Preparing to hold a portion of the Queen’s territory against Spain. Dedicating his English translation of Laudonniére to Raleigh, Hakluyt conceded that no history heretofore set forth had more affinity, resemblance or conformity with yours of Virginia, than this of Florida.15
So they were Protestants at the very least. Raleigh’s 1593 defense of the Brownists, his employment of at least one as a captain and charges of atheism later leveled against him, contribute a not unconvincing picture that Separatism was exactly what White’s colonists were all about.16
Unusual Behavior
But the strongest evidence comes from the behavior of the colony itself. On Roanoke, White appeared to exert very little authority as Governor and ultimately was persuaded to leave the island, against his inclination, by a vote of the entire company. Separatists entirely abhor all difference of rank among ecclesiastics.17 The same held true among the laity.
This would account for White’s lack of assertiveness, which has drawn sharp criticism as a sign of defective leadership. The obvious course for White to have followed, as we have said, would have been to appoint an Assistant to return for help. When White attempted to do this, the result was some controversies between them about choosing two out of the twelve Assistants, which should go back as factors for the company into England: for every one of them refused. Far from a commanding presence as Governor, White by much persuading at last induced Christopher Cooper to leave, only to have him change his mind the very next day through the persuasion of divers of his familiar friends.18
On August 22, the whole company, both of the Assistants, and planters, came to the Governour, and with one voice requested him to return himself into England. Women also joined the petition, being all of one mind, and consent.19 What can we make of this? This is no Anglican way to settle an issue! In both monarchy and Church, government is strictly hierarchical. Yet here on Roanoke, the colonists sound remarkably democratic. Hardly the behavior we would expect toward an Elizabethan governor. Yet it is the way Separatists might make decisions.
White’s attitude toward Indian people was also unusual. Hakluyt endorsed proselytizing, the gaining of the souls of millions of those wretched people, the reducing of them from darkness to light, from falsehood to truth, from dumb idols to the living god, from the deep pit of hell to the highest heavens.20 White embraced an entirely opposite view. His was one of warm affection and admiration, exhibited not only in his paintings but in his vow at Croatoan to renew the old love that was between us and to live together as brethren and friends.21 Acceptance. Ralph Lane, commander of the Roanoke fort in 1585-1586, was more typical when he observed their land to be fertile and fit to be civilly, and Christianly inhabited, though at present inhabited only with savages.22
Preparation for the Journey
We have made a case from the evidence available that the Lost Colonists were Separatists. The implications of this — of why, for example, rescue efforts to locate the missing colonists were never rigorous — have yet to be determined. Certainly it must have played a part, though time may yet prove us wrong. However, one thing is clear: whoever the colonists were, they were very much on their own on Roanoke and, indeed, had been since the start of their journey. It was they who assumed control of the colony’s administration. It was they, as investors, who outfitted the expedition. And it was they who were projecting themselves into an unknown land.
The colonists were briefed in the weeks before they sailed. An experienced Portuguese navigator named Simon Fernandez, one of the Assistants, was taken on as pilot. Hakluyt was employed to render Laudonniére’s book on Florida into English, an example of Raleigh’s singular and special care to prepare the colonists so that, noted Hakluyt, by the reading of this my translation, they might be forewarned and admonished as well to beware of the gross negligence, in providing [in]sufficiency of victuals, the security, disorders, and mutinies that fell out among the French … that by others’ mishaps they might learn to prevent and avoid the like.23
Hakluyt busily compiled accounts of other North American expeditions. His Divers Voyages, which took so long in coming to press that his friend Thomas Savile of Merton College joked that it must have been crushed to death, provided an excellent handbook on early American travels.24
And then there was the testimony of David “Davy” Ingram, who claimed to have walked the entire length of North America from Mexico to the west of Cape Breton in 1569. For two whole months in 1582, and after thirteen years of neglect, Ingram was interrogated about the country by a group of officials headed by Secretary of Stat
e Sir Francis Wal-singham.25 He had found a captive audience at last. Recounting more than they needed to know. Musical instruments: one kind formed from a hollow cane struck against the thigh while seated. A very pleasing sound. Another, a drum like a tabor, covered with hide. He acts out dances, hums a few bars. Overwhelming his listeners: This examínate can very well describe their gestures, dancing and songs. Ingram repeats the half dozen sentences he remembers from their language. Words for “greeting,” for “king,” for “bread,” for “sun.” And of course, warming to his subject, the word for the privities. Carmugnar, he grins.26
All this information and more is shared with the colonists. Hakluyt further recommends a list of dead victual to carry in the ships. Items other voyages have found useful. Among the deceased provisions: salted pork and beef, oatmeal, rice, butter and honey, cheese, currants, raisins, prunes, olives, beans, peas, salad oil and vinegar, turnip and parsnip seed, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, lettuce and endive, onions and garlic, thyme, mustard, fennel and anise.27
The Colonists
One hundred and seventeen men, women, and children.28 Nine married couples. Wives and babies remaining in England, preparing to rejoin husbands. Nine children. Two infants born in America. George Howe, murdered on Roanoke. This constitutes all we know of the Lost Colonists. And we know their names:
*He is listed twice. Were there two men by the name of Thomas Harris or did John White include him twice by mistake? Could one have been a child?
