University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION, PROGRESS OF COMMERCE, ROANOKE SETTLEMENTS.

The claims of the Icelanders, the Welsh, and even the Norwegians,[1]
to the discovery of America, seem in modern times to be
universally set aside in favor of a native of a milder clime. Indeed,
the evidence by which their respective claims were sought to
be established was so vague, contradictory, and unsatisfactory,[2]
and their discoveries, if proved, so entirely accidental, and useless
to mankind, that it is not at all astonishing that all the merit
should be given to that individual whose brilliant genius first demonstrated
a priori the existence of a continent in the western
waters, and whose adventurous daring[3] led him to risk his life in
the search of a world, of the existence of which he was only informed
by his science, with little aid of any human experience;
or that posterity should give to Columbus the undivided glory of an
exploit for which he received only the ignominy of his contemporaries,
and to Italy the honor due the birthplace of so distinguished
a son, from whose brilliant achievements she has received little
else.

In 1460, the Portuguese discovered the Cape de Verd islands,
and afterwards extended their discoveries farther south. This near
prospect of an easier and more direct route to India, had already
begun to excite the jealousy of the Venetians, who then nearly
monopolized the trade of India, and to elevate the hopes of the
Portuguese, who expected to enjoy a portion of the wealth and
luxury which the Venetians derived from that trade; when the
minds of both, and indeed of all Europe, were turned in another

direction by the occurrence of an event in the history of maritime
discovery, compared with which all others sunk into insignificance.

This event was the discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus.
The education of this daring mariner, his dis-

appointments and dangers, his difficulties and his
brilliant success, or the melancholy story of his sad reverses, and
the example afforded in him of the ingratitude of kings, it is not
the purpose of the writer to narrate. He refrains from recounting
so temptingly interesting a narrative, because it would lead him
too far from his purpose, which is only to narrate succinctly the
progress of navigation and discovery to the time of the first colony
settled in Virginia,—and because the same story has been so
well told by Robertson, Irving, and others, that it ought to be familiar
to all.

Notwithstanding the advances in navigation which have been
enumerated, the art of ship-building was still in such a rude and
imperfect state, that the vessels in which Columbus embarked on
an unknown sea, a modern mariner, with all the advantages of
modern science, would scarcely venture in, to cross the Atlantic.
The largest was a vessel of no considerable burden,[5] and the two
others scarcely superior in burden to large boats, and the united
crews of the three only amounted to ninety men. including officers,
and a few gentlemen, enturers from Isabella's court.

But notwithstanding these inadequate means for the prosecution
of maritime discovery, the ardor of enterprise was so much excited
by the brilliant achievements of Columbus, the greedy thirst
for gain, and hope of finding some country abounding in gold, together
with the eager desire which still prevailed of discovering
some passage through the great continent of America, which might
lead to India, that in twenty-six years from the first discovery of
land by Columbus, the Spaniards had visited all of the islands of
the West Indies—they had sailed on the eastern coast of America
from the Rio de la Plata to the western extremity of the Mexican
Gulf—they had discovered the great Southern Ocean, and had acquired
considerable knowledge of the coast of Florida. It is also
said that these voyages in search of a nearer passage to the East
Indies, had extended much farther north, but not however until
that country had been discovered by the seamen of another nation,
of whose exploits in the field of maritime adventure we shall
presently speak.

The great interior was still unknown, the whole western and
the extreme southeastern coasts were still undiscovered, and the
long line of coast from Florida to Labrador had only been seen,
and touched upon in a few places.

England did not at an early period make those advances in navigation,
to which the eminent advantages of her insular situation

invited, and gave no promise of that maritime distinction, and
commercial wealth, to which the wise policy of her subsequent
rulers have led her to attain. From the times of the conquest to
the discovery of America, England had been engaged in perpetual
wars, either foreign or domestic; and thus, while the southern portion
of Europe and the free cities on the Rhine were advancing so
rapidly in opulence and power, England was destitute of even the
germ of that naval strength to which she is so much indebted for
her present greatness. Every article of foreign growth or fabric
which she consumed, was wafted to her shores in the barks of
other nations, and the subsequent mistress of the seas scarcely
dared to float her flag beyond the limits of her own narrow jurisdiction.
Scarcely an English ship traded with Spain or Portugal
before the beginning of the fifteenth century, and it required another
half century to give the British mariner courage enough to
venture to the east of the Pillars of Hercules.[6]

Feeble as the marine of England then was, her reigning monarch,
Henry VII., did not lack the spirit required for undertaking great
enterprises, and accident only deprived him of the glory of being
the patron of the discoverer of America. Columbus, after the
failure of his own native country of Genoa to encourage his great
enterprise, and his second rebuff from his adopted country, Portugal,
fearing another refusal from the king of Castile, to whose
court he then directed his steps, dispatched his brother Bartholomew
to England to solicit the aid of Henry VII., who being then at
peace, was supposed to have leisure to undertake a great enterprise
which promised such renown to himself and emolument to
England. Bartholomew was captured by pirates on his voyage,
and robbed of all his effects, which, with an illness that followed,
prevented him from presenting himself at court, after he arrived
in England, until he could provide himself with suitable apparel
by his skill in drawing maps and sea-charts. He

brought himself to the notice of Henry by presenting
him with a map, and upon his representing to him the proposal
of Columbus, he accepted it with "a joyful countenance, and
bade him fetch his brother." So much delay had been produced
by the circumstances mentioned, that Bartholomew, hastening to
Castile, learned at Paris, from Charles, king of France, that his
brother Christopher's efforts had already been crowned with the
most brilliant success.

When we reflect upon the difficulties which were thrown in the
way of Columbus at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, even
after they became convinced of the practicability of his scheme,

and the yet more arduous difficulties which he encountered on his
voyage, from the mutinous timidity of his crew, we may well doubt
whether Henry's courage would have sustained him in the actual
accomplishment of the enterprise, or whether England at that
time afforded mariners sufficiently hardy to have persevered a sufficient
length of time in a seemingly endless voyage upon an unknown
sea.

Fortunately, perhaps, for mankind, the courage of England was
not put to the test of making the first great adven-

ture; and whether she would have succeeded in
that or not, she was not destitute of sufficient courage to undertake
an enterprise of very considerable magnitude at that day,
soon after the existence of land in our western hemisphere had
been discovered.

The merit of this new enterprise is also due to a native of Italy,
and his motive was the same which prevailed in most of the adventures
of the time,—the desire to discover a new route to India.

Giovanni Gaboto, better known by his anglicised name of John
Cabot, a Venetian merchant who had settled at Bristol, obtained
from Henry a charter for himself and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian,
and Santius, allowing them full power and authority to sail
into all places in the eastern, western, or northern sea, under the
banners of England, with five ships, at their own proper costs and
charges, to discover countries before unknown to Christians, to
plant the banners of England in all such places, and to take possession
of them, to hold as vassals of England, to have the exclusive
monopoly of the trade of all such places, paying to the king
one-fifth of the clear profits of every voyage. All other persons
were prohibited from visiting such places, and the Cabots were
bound always to land on their return only at Bristol.

Under this patent, containing "the worst features of colonial
monopoly and commercial restriction," John Cabot, and his celebrated
son Sebastian, embarked for the west. The object of Cabot
being to discover the passage to India, he pursued a course more
northwardly than any selected by previous navigators, and the
first land he reached was the coast of Newfoundland, which on
that account he named Prima Vista; next the Island of St. John;
and finally the continent, among the "polar bears, the rude savages
and dismal cliffs of Labrador;" and this seems to have been
the only fruit of the first British voyage to America.

In the following year a new patent was given to John Cabot,
and the enterprise was conducted by his adventurous

and distinguished son, Sebastian. In this expedition,
which was undertaken for the purposes of trade as well as discovery,
several merchants of London took part, and even the king
himself. Cabot sailed in a northwest course, in hopes of finding a
northwest passage to India, as far probably as the 58th or 60th
degree of latitude, until he was stopped by the quantities of ice
which he encountered, and the extreme severity of the weather;
he then turned his course southward and followed the coast, according
to some writers to the coast of Virginia, and in the opinion
of some, as far as the coast of Florida. The only commodities
with which he returned to England, as far as our accounts inform
us, were three of the natives of the newly discovered countries.
He found, upon his return, the king immersed in his preparations
for a war with Scotland, which prevented his engaging in any
further prosecution of his discoveries, or entertaining any design
of settlement.

It is not our purpose to notice the Portuguese discoveries under
Cotereal, the French under Verrazzani and Cartier, or their abortive
attempt at settlements in Canada and New England. Nor
shall we notice the extensive inland expedition of the Spaniards
under Soto from-Florida, through the states of Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, across the Mississippi, and into Louisiana,—or the attempts
of the French at settlement in Florida and the Carolinas,—
these matters belong rather to the history of the United States,
than to the sketch of the history of Virginia which we propose to
give. We pass at once to the British attempts at colonization in
America.

The progress of maritime adventure extended rapidly. The
evidence exists of several English voyages having been made not
only to the coast of North America, but the Levant, the harbors
of northern Africa and Brazil. The visits to the fisheries

of Newfoundland had become frequent; and the commerce
from that source had become of such importance, and had been
the subject of such long and oppressive exactions, as to require
the action of parliament for their prohibition.

India was still the great object with the merchants, and the discovery
of a nearer passage than that offered by the Cape

of Good Hope, the great desideratum with mariners. The
northwestern passage had been attempted thrice by the Cabots in
vain; a northeastern expedition was fitted out, and sailed under
the command of Willoughby and Chancellor. Willoughby with
his ship's company were found in their vessel frozen to death in a
Lapland harbor; Chancellor with his vessel entered the port of
Archangel, and "discovered" the vast empire of Russia, till
then unknown to Western Europe. This discovery led to
the hope of establishing an intercourse by means of caravans
across the continent to Persia, and thence to the distant
empire of Cathay.

Elizabeth afforded every encouragement to the maritime enterprises
of her subjects, and especially encouraged the newly established
intercourse with Russia. The hope of discovering a

northwest passage was by no means as yet relinquished.
Martin Frobisher, after revolving in his mind the subject for fifteen
years, believed that it might be accomplished, and "determined
and resolved within himself to go and make full proof thereof,"
"knowing this to be the only thing in the world that was left
yet undone, whereby a notable mind might be made famous and
fortunate." Frobisher was too poor to supply himself with the
means of carrying his designs into execution; but after much solicitation
at court he was patronised by Dudley, Earl of Warwick,
who supplied him with two small barks, the one of twenty and
the other of twenty-five tons burden, and a pinnace of ten tons.
With this little fleet he set sail. The expedition was entirely unfortunate.
One of his barks deserted and returned home, the pinnace
went down in a storm, "whereby he lost only four men:" with such
small vessels and crews did the hardy mariners of that day venture
to cross the Atlantic. The Admiral's mast was sprung, and
the top-mast blown overboard, by the same storm in which he lost
the pinnace; but, nothing daunted, he persevered, and entered Hudson's
Bay. The only thing accomplished by the voyage was the
taking possession of the cold and barren wilderness in the name
of Elizabeth, carrying home some of the gravel and stones, one
of the latter of which, resembling gold, or probably having some
gold artificially mingled with it after it reached London, caused
the gold refiners nearly to go mad, and the merchants to undertake
one of the wildest expeditions recorded in the annals of discovery;
besides this show of gold, which was pronounced very
rich for the quantity, the only other acquisition was a poor native,
whose simplicity was imposed upon by the most treacherous devices,
until he was decoyed to the English vessel, and then seized
by force, and carried away from his friends. He bit off his tongue
from despair, and died soon after his arrival in England, from cold
taken on the voyage.

The mania which the story of the little bit of gold produced in
London caused a fleet of several vessels to be fitted out, of

which the queen herself furnished one, to bring home the
rich produce of these icy mines. The ships returned with black
earth, but no gold.

The spirit of avarice was not to be stopped in her career by a
single failure; a new fleet of fifteen vessels was fitted out,

and to Martin Frobisher was given the command. A colony
was to be planted for the purpose of working the mines, while
twelve vessels were to be sent home with ore. After almost incredible
difficulties, encountered amid storms and "mountains of
floating ice on every side," the loss of some vessels, and the desertion
of others, they reached the northern Potosi, and the ships were
well laden with the black earth; but the colonists, being disheartened
by their hardships, declined settling on the coast, and all returned
to England. We are not informed of the value of the proceeds of
the cargo.

While the British queen and her merchants were indulging
themselves in fancies as brilliant and as evanescent as the icebergs
which encumbered the scene of the delusion, Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
a man of insuperable energy and fearless enterprise, formed a design
of promoting the fisheries, and engaging in useful colonization.

With this view he obtained a patent of the same character with
most of those which were granted to the early pro-

moters of colonization in America, conferring unbounded
privileges upon the proprietor, and guarantying no
rights to the colonists. The first expedition, in which Gilbert had
expended much of his private fortune, failed,—from what
cause is uncertain.

The second expedition, undertaken four years afterwards, was
still more unfortunate; for it lost to the world the gallant

and accomplished projector of the expedition. Five vessels
sailed from Plymouth on Tuesday, the 11th of June, 1583. Two
days afterward, the vice-admiral complained of sickness aboard,
and returned with the finest ship in the fleet to Plymouth. The
admiral, nevertheless, continued his course with his little squadron,
and took possession, with the feudal ceremony, of Newfoundland,
to be held by him as a fief of the crown of England, in accordance
with the terms of his charter.

The looseness of morals displayed by the mariners of that day
is truly disgusting, and increases our wonder at the daring of men
who could venture so far from home, in such frail barks, with
almost a certainty of encountering on the great highway, in their
fellow-men, greater perils than were presented by all the terrors
of the deep. Robbery by sea was too common, and often committed
in violation of the most sacred obligations, even upon persons
engaged in the very act of relieving the distress of the depredators.[21]
Gilbert seems to have been cursed with a remarkably
riotous and insubordinate company. The sick and disaffected
were left at Newfoundland to be sent home with the Swallow, and
the admiral proceeded with his three remaining barks.

On Tuesday the 20th of August they sailed from the harbor of
St. Johns, and on the 29th, in about latitude 44 degrees, the largest
remaining vessel, by the carelessness of the crew, struck, and went
to pieces, and the other barks were forced by a high sea and a lee
shore to struggle for their own preservation, which they accomplished
with difficulty,—alleging, at the same time, that they could
see none of the crew of the wreck floating upon timbers, but all
seemed to have gone down when the ship broke up. A few, however,
escaped to Newfoundland in the ship's pinnace, as was afterwards
discovered.

This calamity, followed by continual storms, in an unknown and
shoaly sea, enhanced by an extreme scantiness of provisions, and
want of clothes and comforts in the two little barks which yet
remained, induced the admiral, at the earnest solicita-

tion of his men, to return homeward. Sir Humphrey
Gilbert was vehemently persuaded by the crew of the Golden Hind
to remain with them during the voyage; but, as some malicious
taunts had been thrown out by some evil-disposed person, accusing
him of being afraid of the sea, he chose to continue to sail in his
little pinnace, the Squirrel, which was burdened beyond her
strength.

After the vessels had left the Azores to the south, and reached
the latitude of England, they encountered violent and continued
storms. On Monday, the 9th of September, the Squirrel was nearly
cast away, but recovered, and the admiral was seen sitting abaft
with a book in his hand, and heard to cry out to those in the Hind,
"We are as near to heaven by sea as by land." That same night,
at 12 o'clock, the Squirrel being in advance, her light suddenly
disappeared, and her hardy crew, with their gallant commander,
sleep forever in the deep. The Hind reached Falmouth

in safety, but after encountering eminent peril to the last
moment.[24]

The daring spirit of the mariners of that day is amazing. Sir
Walter Raleigh, the step-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, so far
from being intimidated by the melancholy fate of his relative, or
disheartened by the unprofitable and disastrous termination of
most of the voyages to America, undertook in the

very next year an expedition to the coast of the
present United States. He easily obtained one of the usual unlimited
patents from Elizabeth, and, leaving the cold north, with
its barren snows, its storms, icebergs, and certain evils, together
with its imaginary wealth, he spread his sails for the sweet south,
where he was sure to find a fertile soil and a delightful climate,
though his ship's company might not all be enriched by the discovery
of gold.

On the second of July they found shoal water, "and smelt so
sweet and strong a smell, as if they had been in the midst of
some delicate garden abounding with all kinds of odoriferous
flowers."

On the 13th they entered Ocracock inlet, on the coast of the
present state of North Carolina, and landed on Wocoken Island.
They commenced an intercourse with the natives, who proved to
be bold, confiding, intelligent, and honorable to their friends, but
treacherous, revengeful, and cruel towards their enemies.

The English explored a little the surrounding islands and bays,
and returned home in September, carrying with them two natives,
Manteo and Wanchese. The glowing description given by the
adventurers, on their return, of the beauty of the country, the fertility
of the soil, and pleasantness of the climate, delighted the
queen, and induced her to name the country of which she had
taken possession, Virginia, in commemoration of her unmarried
life.

It might be expected that so favorable an account would soon
lead to a new expedition. Accordingly, another was pre-

pared for the succeeding year, consisting of seven vessels.
Ralph Lane was appointed by Raleigh governor of the colony,
which consisted of one hundred and eight persons. Sir Richard
Grenville took command of the fleet, and several learned and
accomplished men attended the expedition, one of whom has transmitted
to posterity many interesting particulars of the nature of
the country, and the habits, manners, and government of its inhabitants.

The English soon began to maltreat the harmless, unpretending,
and simple natives, and they, on the other hand, to

grow jealous of the power of the overbearing
strangers. They soon learned the inordinate passion of the newcomers
for gold, and, taking advantage of their credulity, inflicted
upon them the labor of many fruitless expeditions in search of
pretended mines,—hoping at the same time, by these divisions, to
weaken the power of the little colony to such a degree that they
might be able to destroy it in detachment; but the English were
too cautious for this, and went too short a distance, and in force
too powerful for the Indians to encounter with the great disparity
of arms. The greatest advantage which accrued from these expeditions,
and indeed from the whole attempt at a settlement, was
the discovery of Chesapeake Bay.

The little colony, finding no gold, and receiving no supplies from
England, had begun to despond, when most unexpectedly Sir
Francis Drake arrived, on his return from his expedition against
the Spaniards in South America, with a fleet of three and twenty
ships. The sagacity of Drake perceived in a moment what was
necessary for the colony, and his generosity supplied them with
provisions, vessels, and other things necessary to maintain their
position, extend their researches, and, if necessary, to return to
England; but the accomplishment of his purpose was defeated by
a violent storm which suddenly arose, and nearly wrecked his
whole fleet, driving the vessel of provisions intended for the colony
to sea, and destroying the vessels which had been set apart to be
left for their use. He would have supplied others; but the colony,
with their governor at their head, earnestly requesting

permission to return to England, he complied with their
wishes. Thus terminated the first English settlement in America.

This little colony, during its sojourn with the Indians, had acquired
something of their fondness for the use of tobacco, and
learned to regard it with almost the same superstitious reverence,
as a powerful medicinal agent. Upon their return, they introduced
the use of this plant into England; and a weed at first disgusting
and nauseating to all who use it, has become gradually the favorite
luxury (and indeed with many a necessary of life) of all classes
of society, and of both the young and the old throughout the world,
—and this, after experience has proved that in most cases it is an
injury rather than a benefit to the health.

A few days after Lane's departure, an English vessel arrived on
the coast with every necessary for the colony, but finding it deserted,

returned home. Sir Richard Grenville arrived soon after
with three ships, well furnished with stores for the colony; but not
finding it, he also returned, leaving fifteen men on Roanoke Island,
to keep possession in the name of Great Britain.

The genius of Sir Walter Raleigh was not of a nature to succumb
to slight failures, or ordinary difficulties. The suc-

ceeding year another colony was dispatched to settle in
Virginia; and that they might consider their settlement permanent,
and Virginia their home, many persons with wives and families
were sent.

A charter of incorporation was granted for a town, to be

called the City of Raleigh, a name revived in after times
in the present metropolis of North Carolina. John White was
appointed governor, and, with eleven assistants, constituted the
administration for the control of the colony. Ample provision was
made by the noble and liberal proprietor for the comfort of the
colonists, and a plentiful stock of instruments of husbandry provided,
to enable them to supply their own future wants, and establish
themselves on the only footing which could possibly be expected
to be permanent.

The company embarked in April, and arrived in July

at the place where they expected to find the fifteen unfortunate
men whom Grenville had left. But their grounds were
grown up in weeds, their tenantless dwellings had become the
abode of the wild animals of the forest, and their scattered bones,
blanching in the sun, were the last sad memorials which told their
fate to their anxious countrymen. Whether they fell by civil dissensions
among themselves, by famine or disease, or were yet more
miserably cut off by the overpowering numbers of a savage host,
taking advantage of their desolate situation, (deprived of sympathy,
and destitute of the hope of succor,) is one of the mysteries
of history which the ken of man may not unravel.

The sagacity of Raleigh had directed the new settlement to be
made on the shores of the magnificent Chesapeake, and there was
the new city to be built; but the naval officer, preferring trade
with the West Indies to exploring the coast, left White on

Roanoke Island, and compelled him to establish himself
there.

The colony soon became involved in difficulties with the natives,
partly from accident, and partly from the previously en-

gendered hostility of some of the tribes. Indeed, it would
seem impossible a priori, (even if we had not, unfortunately, too
much experience of the fact,) that two nations of such different
degrees of civilization, manners, and habits, with such different
designs, could long remain together in peace, harmony, and on the
footing of equals. It would seem to be the nature of man that the
ignorant tribe should be jealous, treacherous, and vindictive,—that
the more civilized should be greedy, rapacious, and overbearing.
And when a spirit of suspicion is once excited, the imprudence of

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.

From a portrait showing him in the fashionable dress of the period in which he lived.

a single individual too often involves in a quarrel all of the citizens
of the little communities: nothing is extenuated, and nothing is
attributed to accident; but suspicion in the injured party supplies
the place of malice in the aggressor. These difficulties made the
colonists feel more anxiously their dependence upon England, and
forced upon them a melancholy foreboding, that without frequent
and effectual assistance from the mother country, they could not
long sustain themselves in a strange and distant land, the natives
of which had become bitterly hostile. Under this impression,
when their last ship was about to depart from England, they forced
their reluctant governor, by excessive importunity, to desert his
charge, in order that he might lend his personal aid and influence
in sending them succor from home. He sailed with the
ship, but not until after his daughter, Eleanor Dare, the
wife of one of the assistant governors, had presented him with the
first white child born on the continent of North America.
This child was christened Virginia Dare, and, with her
mother, was esteemed a sufficient pledge of the exertions of the
governor in aid of the colony, and of his speedy return.

White found all England engaged in anxious preparation to
meet the threatened Spanish invasion, but this did not pre-

vent the generous Raleigh from dispatching him with two
ships of supplies for the relief of the colony. But the spirit of
gain overcame the spirit of humanity, and even the tender ties of
parental affection: instead of going at once to the colo-
ny, he employed himself in taking Spanish prizes, and
was at last himself overcome and rifled, which compelled him to
return to England, much to the chagrin of the noble proprietor,
and probably the destruction of the neglected colony.

The Invincible Armada of Spain had to be overcome, and the
safety of England herself to be secured, before another effort
could be made to succor the little colony at Roanoke; and when
this was accomplished, leisure found the noble patron of the enterprise
too much impoverished by his previous unprofitable exertions
to fit out, at his own expense, another expedition. He was
obliged to assign an extensive portion of his powers to a company
of merchants and others who might carry his schemes into execution;
but with his profuse liberality, the active spring which had
quickened previous expeditions was gone, the spirit of gain rather
than of glory presided over the destinies of infant America, and it
was not until another year had elapsed, that White was

sent in quest of his subjects and his daughter.

When he arrived the colony was gone; an inscription on the
bark of a tree, indicating Croatan as the place whither they had
gone, was the last record of their existence seen by a civilized eye.
Conjecture has pointed to an amalgamation with the tribe of Hatteras
Indians as the history of their destiny, and old Indian traditions
and the physical characteristics of that tribe are said
to confirm the idea; but while humanity may indulge a hope,

credulity itself must entertain a doubt of the truth of the hypothesis.

White returned to England as soon as he found out that the
colony was gone, and Raleigh is said to have sent five several
times in vain, to search for his liege-men, but no tidings were ever
received of their existence or their fate. Thus terminated the
attempts at settlement on the coast of North Carolina, then called
Virginia; the scene next opens upon the broad bosom of the
"mother of the waters."[39]