Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost ColonyNovember 1587. A report reaches London that Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition, which left England months before to land the first English settlers in America, has foundered. On Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, a tragedy is unfolding. Something has gone very wrong, and the colony—115 men, women, and children, among them the first English child born in the New World, Virginia Dare—is in trouble. But there will be no rescue. Before help can reach them, all will vanish with barely a trace. The Lost Colony is America’s oldest unsolved mystery. In this remarkable example of historical detective work, Lee Miller goes back to the original evidence and offers a fresh solution to the enduring legend. She establishes beyond doubt that the tragedy of the Lost Colony did not begin on the shores of Roanoke but within the walls of Westminster, in the inner circle of Queen Elizabeth’s government. As Miller detects, powerful men had reason to want Raleigh’s mission to fail. Furthermore, Miller shows what must have become of the settlers, left to face a hostile world that was itself suffering the upheavals of an alien invasion. Narrating a thrilling tale of court intrigue, spy rings, treachery, sabotage, Native American politics, and colonial power, Miller has finally shed light on a four-hundred-year-old unsolved mystery. |
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS | |
MAPS | |
PART ONE | |
1 THE DISAPPEARANCE | |
2 A CASE OF MISSING PERSONS | |
GOVERNOR | |
4 OF LONDON | |
5 OF POPULATION | |
15 POLITICAL TURMOIL | |
16 THE PLAYERS | |
17 THE MOTIVE | |
18 THE GAME | |
19 THE FALL | |
PART FOUR | |
20 RALEIGHS SEARCH | |
21 JAMESTOWN | |
6 OF RELIGION | |
7 THE COLONISTS | |
8 IN CERTAIN DANGER | |
PART TWO | |
9 SABOTAGE | |
GRENVILLE AND THE SECOTAN 1585 | |
LANES COMMAND 15851586 | |
12 CHAUNIS TEMOATAN AND A MURDER 1586 | |
PART THREE | |
13 THE LOST COLONISTS 1587 | |
14 RALEIGHS RISE TO POWER | |
22 WAR ON THE POWHATAN | |
23 REQUIEM | |
24 DEEP IN THE INTERIOR | |
25 WHO ARE THE MANDOAG? | |
26 EPILOGUE | |
WINGINA AND THE SECOTAN | |
THE MEANING OF MANDOAG AND NOTTOWAY | |
NOTES AND REFERENCES | |
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Common terms and phrases
Algonquian America Aquascogoc Armada attack Babington boats Briefe and True Burghley Burghley’s Camden Captain Carolina Chaunis Chaunis Temoatan Chesapeake Bay Chowan Chowan River Chowanoc coast copper Court Croatoan Darby Glande Dasamonquepeuc discovery Drake Edward Elizabeth enemy England English Fernandez fleet Gilbert Governor Grenville Grenville’s Hakluyt Hariot Hatton History Hopewell Ibid Indian Jamestown John Dee John White King land Lane to Walsingham Lane’s leader Leicester Leicester’s letter located London Lost Colonists Mandoag Mangoaks Manteo Meherrin Menatonon miles Monocan nation Naunton never North Nottoway Ocanahowan Occaneechi Outer Banks Papers Colonial Pemisapan Powhatan Principall Navigations 1589 Queen Quinn Richard Hakluyt River Roanoke expedition Roanoke Island Roanoke River Roanoke Voyages sail Secotan Separatists ships Siouan Skiko Smith soldiers Spain Spaniards Spanish Stafford Strachey Thomas town Trading Path True Report 1589 Tuscarora Tutelo vessels Virginia Company Wahunsonacock weroance West White’s colonists Wingina word Zúñiga