by Lee Miller
The avenue continues along the edge of the fields to the river from whence they fetch their water.59 Women crouch along the bank, dipping deep within the river, receiving the water into hollow gourds. A tinkling of chimes as the vessels clink together, caught up from a nest of wet sand. A constant coming and going of women.
Hariot pushes through a verdant forest of six or seven foot corn stalks, his arm a machete, forcing a path. Suddenly, piercing cries and an insistent striking of a stick against wood are answered by a wall of black crows lifting into the air, jolted skyward as if struck by lightning. Vehement shrieking; a thundering of black bodies. Hariot shields his face, warding them off. The commotion issues from a woven hut perched atop a scaffold, housing a youth bobbing around like a marionette, yelling and wildly waving his arms. In their cornfields, they build as it were a scaffold whereon they set a cottage like to a round chair… wherein they place one to watch. For there are such number of fowls and beasts, that unless they keep the better watch, they would soon devour all their corn.60 Indeed, deer are seen feeding at the edge of the field.
Hariot scrutinizes the corn; unknown in England. He runs his palm against a blade, turning it over, examining it with unrecognizing eyes. And is suddenly aware of being watched. Muffled giggles. A group of Secotan women are observing him in obvious delight. A European scientist in a woman’s field of corn. The women of Secotam are of reasonable good proportion. In their going they carry their hands dangling down, open, direct, unguarded. They are clothed in deer skin very excellently well dressed, hanging down from their navel unto the midst of their thighs.
He gazes in wonder at the thin blue lines of tattooing winding around their bodies in graceful tendrils, along their foreheads, cheeks, chin, arms and legs. … About their necks they wear a chain, either pricked or painted. They have small eyes, plain and flat noses, narrow foreheads, and broad mouths. For the most part they hang at their ears chains of long pearls, and of some smooth bones. Then a postscript, added a trifle ruefully. They are also delighted with walking into the fields.61
Hariot beats a retreat and wanders along the river, where men are catching fish. There he observes other women following the proceedings with interest. Hariot gazing at them, gazing at the fishermen. Doubtless it is a pleasant sight to see the people, sometimes wading and going, sometimes sailing in those rivers, which are shallow and not deep. Girls, too, crowd along the bank. They delight also in seeing fish taken in the rivers.61
Green Corn Feast
The English seem relaxed here, owing perhaps to the town’s larger size and a bustling commotion occasioned by the visit coinciding with a Secotan holiday, a great and solemn feast whereunto their neighbours of the towns adjoining repair. Indeed, guests arrive hourly from all parts, every man attired in the most strange fashion they can devise having certain marks on their backs to declare of what place they be.63
White and Hariot make a record of the preparing feast, bobbing in and out of the cooking area. White sketches fish grilling atop a barbecue. And when as the hurdle cannot hold all the fishes, they hang the rest by the fire on sticks set up in the ground against the fire, and then they finish the rest of their cookery. Deep smoky flavors; skewers of hickory and pecan. They take good heed that they be not burnt. When the fish are broiled they lay others on, that were newly brought, continuing the dressing of their meat in this sort, until they think they have sufficient.64
The odor of exotic and delicious dishes wafts across town. Smoke from the barbecue billows out, bathing the houses along the street in a milky haze, floating out across the fields. Children laughing, playing to while away the time; content to surrender the honor of getting underfoot to Hariot and White. Old people crouch in doorways, chatting with friends from neighboring villages. Venison and oysters and garlic and mint. Dogs pacing hungrily underfoot; a vicious tussle over scraps of fat tossed on the ground. White paints a clay pot propped upright in a pool of white-hot embers. A woman stirs in berries, walnuts, chunks of meat. Their women fill the vessel with water, and then they put in fruit, flesh, and fish, and let all boil together like a stew.65
The food is arranged into dishes and set before the company. Soft-shell crab. Sweet persimmon cakes, blackberries, corn bread and fritters, rose-tinted china-briar jelly, beans simmered in garlic and grease. Field apricots. And the most important dish of all on this holiday: grated green corn soup. After they have ended their feast they make merry together.66
There is an easy rhythm to life here. The people, void of all covetous-ness, live cheerfully and at their heart’s ease. Perhaps Hariot feels envy. Yet something is wrong. When do the English first notice it? A silver cup is missing. It was last seen at Aquascogoc. Left there? Lost? They believe it stolen. Either way, Grenville’s men might easily have written it off. They have been fed and entertained in this land for days. At Aquascogoc, as elsewhere, they have received more than compensation from a trade in which they paid out trifles.61 All will be sacrificed for a silver cup. Amadas and ten soldiers will return to Aquascogoc.
The Burning of Aquascogoc
The songs fade away over Secota as the morning sun rises above the swamp forest, staining the eastern horizon. The canopy overhead is alive with birds welcoming the day. Below, the soldiers drag their boats into the water. Amadas and his men are the first to depart, returning by the same route they came, toward Aquascogoc. Who ordered them there, Grenville or Lane? Amadas’s official position in Lane’s government is Admiral of the Country. The Admiral, it is said, was sent to Aquasco-goc.68 Oars dip into the sound, steady, purposeful.
At Aquascogoc, startled faces turn toward the shore. The English boat sprawls like a beached whale on the sand, cast off from the remainder of the fleet. Amadas strides forward and demands the silver cup. His question must cause no little dismay. Relations begun so cordially days before, no easy thing to reconcile with the Englishmen’s change of manner. Who has the silver cup? Was it a trade? Was it ever even taken? No matter; they promise its return. What else can they do? Amadas waits.
The sun mellows into dusk, the hours ticking by. No one comes forward. The time of negotiation is past. The town, strangely quiet. And then a notation is entered in the Tiger journal, a single chilling blow: The 16 we returned thence, and one of our boats with the Admiral was sent to Aquascococke to demand a silver cup which one of the savages had stolen from us, and not receiving it according to his promise, we burnt, and spoiled their corn, and Town, all the people being fled.69
Flames spurt up from Aquascogoc. Black patterns on house shingles melt and bleed as fire consumes them. Lighting up the night. Cornfields wither under a shimmering orange heat. Maroon tassels dripping bloody threads. The cobs roast then turn to ash, the harvest ruined. Smoke from the town spills over the forest, visible for miles. Along the beach, Amadas’s boat pushes into the black water, dwarfed by the fiery holocaust. The houses collapse, spewing molten cinder. The boat, swallowed by darkness.
A single picture of White’s survives of this place: a girl with strands of pearls and copper beads around her neck, her hair clipped into neat bangs.70 What became of her? For the theft of a single silver cup Aquascogoc is razed, the food supply destroyed, the people dispersed. Harsh retribution: to teach the Secotan a lesson. Undoubtedly it does.
News of the burning must travel quickly throughout the Secotan country. Meetings are convened to try to make sense of so bizarre an action. The English have begun to exhibit traits more of an enemy than a friend. Dark deeds once begun … If there fall out any wars between us and them, writes Hariot, what their fight is likely to be, we having advantages against them so many manner of ways, as by our discipline, our strange weapons and devices else, especially ordinance great and small, it may easily be imagined; by the experience we have had in some places, the turning up of their heels against us in running away was their best defence.11
No resistance was offered at Aquascogoc. All the people being fled. From towns throughout the Secotan country, they will beg fo
od and supplies necessary to survive the winter without starving. Their condition will burden others. Extra mouths to feed. These English, so exacting of generosity and harsh in judgment! If a silver cup wrongfully taken is punished so severely, one might consider how the Secotan will respond to precious food stores depleted by soldiers without compensation. Worth more than any cup.
Insubordination
Wococon, July 18. Grenville’s company regroups under a relentless sun, the ships weltering in the haze. He must decide what course to take. There is talk of aborting the mission. Raleigh’s instructions were for Grenville to tarry himself, or to leave some gentlemen of good worth with a competent number of soldiers in the country of Virginia, to begin an English colony there.12 Specifically, he is to leave Lane. Yet the wreck of the Tiger with all provisions, particularly given the attack on Aquascogoc, has destroyed all hope of remaining. Grenville determines that their only option is to return to England and renew the offensive in the spring. With fresh supplies.
But now the bitter divisions that have plagued the expedition for weeks congeal. Strenuous objections are raised immediately. The participants in the attack against Grenville are possibly Atkinson and Russell, certainly Lane. He pens a bold letter to the Secretary of State, spewing tirades against Grenville, who intendeth to accuse others. A growing faction is determined to stay, standing resolute rather to lose our lives than to defer a possession to her MajestyP Lane may well have demanded compliance with the original plan of placing him in command. If so, he stands in direct opposition to Grenville’s authority. The General, by indirect means, and most untrue surmises, Lane cries, very likely suspects him of insubordination.74 In fact, mutiny.
Court-martial meant execution. In a calculated exaggeration, Lane informs Walsingham of how tyrannous an execution, without any occasion of my part offered, he not only purposed, but even propounded the same, to have brought me … to the question for my life. Harassed only for an advise, in a public consultation by me given.15 Grenville, the tyrant. Irrational and unwilling to entertain others’ opinions. Lane, the innocent.
July 21. Grenville’s hand is forced. The fleet weighs anchor and sails north out of Wococon. Lane will stay on Roanoke. One hundred and seven men — less than a third of the available military complement — will remain with him. Altogether, a weak number.16 Construction of the fort is begun at once on the north end of Roanoke Island. An expert on defensive works, Lane himself oversees operations.
Although he has had his way, Lane now realizes that Grenville will return home to inform both Walsingham and Raleigh of sundry complaints, against sundry gentlemen, of this service. He therefore fires off a series of letters: four to Walsingham — to advertise your honour and that most truly concerning them; another to the Queen. To Raleigh he forwards an entire book, an ample discourse of the whole voyage. It documents Grenville’s usual manner of proceeding … and particularly towards myself. A true copy of the whole discourse will also be delivered to Walsingham, including corroborating testimonies and depositions.11
The attack is vicious. Lane urges Walsingham and other investors to remove Grenville from office, citing his intolerable pride and insatiable ambition.12 A sly move, suggesting that Grenville has jeopardized their money.
August 25. The Tiger weighs anchor and Grenville sails for England, little suspecting that both Atkinson and Russell carry secret letters addressed to Walsingham. Two weeks later, the last of Grenville’s squadron sails away, leaving Lane in command of 107 men without supplies in a fort on a remote island beyond the boundaries of the known world. Had Lane been less bold, he might have felt trepidation at the prospect. Had he been less bold, he would have had no need to fear.
Lane’s actions, more than any link in the chain of events forged thus far, will directly seal the fate of the Lost Colonists. His behavior, both brutal and despotic, may be dismissed by many as a product of his age. As nothing more than wartime tactics, used in both the Irish campaign and the treatment of the Welsh before them. But there are others who will view any who commit such atrocities as sadistic, regardless of the age in which they live. Indisputably, Lane’s tenure on Roanoke was a downhill spiral ending in enormous tragedy. As we have said all along, something happened on Roanoke Island. We must now discover what that was. And, in so doing, enter the world of a madman.
11 THE SECOND ROANOKE EXPEDITION: LANE’S COMMAND (1585-1586)
It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned men to be the people with whom you plant; and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work; but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation.
Francis Bacon1
Lane’s Fort
July 29, 1585. Lane should have known better. Granganimeo, brother to King Wingino, has been brought aboard the Tiger for negotiations. He has granted the English request to live on Roanoke, but not without conditions: they will receive no help from his people.2 No corn. No cultigens. No meat. Raleigh’s exploring party the previous year has depleted their stock. To feed 108 additional mouths is impossible. There is the matter of Aquascogoc to consider. The Secotan will trade only surplus, which this year is unlikely. There are no guarantees.
In the light of the situation on Roanoke, and confronted by his own food shortages, Lane’s obsession with staying at his post is appalling.3 After his bitter condemnation of Grenville for exposing them all to danger in Puerto Rico, Lane’s willful decision to occupy Roanoke commits himself and everyone else to a vastly more certain danger. And, in so doing, he sets in motion a tidal wave of destruction.
August 17. Construction of the fort is completed. Lane assumes command of his new headquarters as both Governor and General. Philip Amadas, as Admiral of the Country, is second-in-command. Captains Edward Stafford and John Vaughan4 command two companies; if there are other officers present, they have not been identified. Of the soldiers at Lane’s disposal, at least one, Edward Nugent, served with him in Ireland. Others have been conscripted, including Darby Glande, brought here against his will. Hakluyt had proposed sending soldiers to America who had returned from the wars in Europe and Ireland, that those who might be hurtful to this realm may be there unladen.5
Such troops, not surprisingly, prove so undisciplined that Lane finds himself, in the midst of infinite business, as having amongst savages, the charge of wild men of mine own nation, whose unruliness is such as not to give leisure to the Governor to be almost at any time from them.6
Nevertheless, Lane fully appreciates the implications of his position. To command this post, to ensure the addition of such a kingdom as this, is to topple the tyranny of Spain (being the sword of the Antichrist of Rome and his sect). Though there be no food in the country for his troops, they will prevail! Lane is embarking on a holy war. Not doubting, he enthuses, that God will command even the ravens to feed us, as he did by his servant the Prophet Habakkuk.1 This campaign is Lane’s great glory.
Falcons, harquebuses, armor, and ammunition are transported from the ships and stored inside the fort. The troops and guns presenting a far different spectacle to the Secotan than that of the exploring expedition the year before. Even then, whenever we discharged any piece, Barlowe had said, were it but a harquebus, they would tremble thereat for very fear. Hariot reports that the people of Roanoke were amazed at the first sight of us} Little wonder.
The Indian village of Roanoke, a palisaded town of nine cedar houses, lies near Lane’s fort on the north end of Roanoke Island.9 Granganimeo is a weroance here, a leader. Raleigh’s men, in 1584, were struck by his appearance and the respect and deference his people accorded him. His wife also exerted a commanding presence, though their first impression of her was of a shy and aristocratic woman, very well favoured, of mean stature, and very bashful. She came to the ships in the presence of forty or fifty women always.10
Wingina, Granganime
o’s brother, was understood to be the King of the entire Secotan country. With Lane’s soldiers here, he will shift his residence to Roanoke.11
A Pleasant and Fruitful Country
Lane’s first step as commander is to dispatch Philip Amadas to the mainland north of Roanoke Island. A country situated against the uppermost reach of the sound, to Weapemeocke.12 What his mission is later becomes clear. The Weapemeoc confederacy, headed by a man named Okisko, consists of four small nations: the Yeopim proper, the Perquiman, Pasquotank, and Poteskeet. Allied to the Secotan.
West of the Weapemeoc are the Chowanoc, also a member of the alliance. Each day, knowledge is gained, writes Lane, of some fertile and pleasant provinces in the main, populously inhabited. The towns are situated upon most delicate plats of ground, distant the one from the other not above 3 English miles. Amadas saw crowds gathered so as upon one of their holy days there hath been of my company … that hath seen above 7oo persons, young and old together, on a plain.13
For the soldiers, an anticlimactic beginning. These matters are the business of Hariot the scientist, specially employed by Raleigh to deal with the natural inhabitants, not enlisted men.14
A World of Observation
Hariot vigorously compiles a journal, stuffing it full of notes on Secotan gardens. Pagatowr, corn, the staple crop. We have found here a Guinea wheat, writes Lane, struggling to maintain investor interest, whose ear yieldeth corn for bread, 400 upon one ear, and the cane maketh very good and perfect sugar. Children suck it as candy for the sweet juice.15
