The following April, 1585, Raleigh’s fleet of seven ships, commanded by his cousin Sir Richard Grenville, set forth with as many as 600 men—among them colonists planning to stay in the Americas. The ships reached Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds by June after a stopover in Puerto Rico. The colonists under Governor Ralph Lane built Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island and explored the region, having contacts with many of the area tribes.
The scientist Thomas Harriot was one of the members of Raleigh’s first colony. He studied the Native peoples and cataloged the wildlife and resources. His work was published on his return to England as A briefe and true report ofthe new found land of Virginia (part of North Carolina originally was part of the “Virginia” patent). Also among the colonists was John White, who, in addition to serving as the cartographer, made water-color drawings of peoples, animals, and plants that also were published in Europe. Their work informed Europeans of Native American customs, showing, for example, villages of rectangular wigwams with rounded roofs, some surrounded by palisades; fields of corn within or next to the villages; the burning and scraping out of the interior of logs to make dugout canoes; people fishing with nets and spears from dugouts or by trapping fish in weirs; food preparation, such as cooking in earthen pots or on wooden grills; communally eating from large dishes while sitting on mats of reeds; deerskin clothing, including apronlike skirts and full-length capes; ceremonial dancing around posts with carved faces; and funeral practices, such as placing the bodies of dead leaders on covered raised platforms.
Yet English relations with the Roanoke and other tribes deteriorated for a variety of reasons, especially over the provision of food. In one incident in summer 1585, the English burned a village on the mainland because a Secotan had stolen a silver cup. To assure the cooperation of the upriver tribes in offering supplies to his men during their search for gold and pearls, in spring 1586, Lane had Skyco, son of the powerful Chowanoc sachem Menatonon, taken hostage. The deaths of Granganimeo and Ensenore, very likely from disease carried to the Native population, probably further hurt relations because the former are thought to have headed the proEnglish faction. In any case, Wingina, taking a new name, Pemisapan, turned militant and attempted to starve out the English. Wanchese, his cousin, turned against the English as well. Manteo, the Hatteras, remained pro-English. Why these two former friends, who both were honored in England, chose these separate paths is not known. The historical record also is incomplete about the fate of Skyco.
Using rumors of a planned Indian attack as his excuse and pretending to seek a council with Wingina, on June 1, 1586, Lane led an attack on the mainland village of Dasamonquepeuc. Wingina was shot and beheaded. Less than three weeks later, the colonists, “weak and unfit men,” departed Roanoke Island with the visiting fleet of Sir Francis Drake. Manteo again accompanied them with another Indian by the name of Towaye.
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