What else could have happened??  No signs of a fight...........no forced exit..........the name of a local Indian tribe carved into a tree?

The Lost Colony[edit]

Baptism of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in North America. Lithograph, 1880

In 1587, Raleigh dispatched a new group of 115 colonists to establish a colony on Chesapeake Bay. They were led by John White, an artist and friend of Raleigh who had accompanied the previous expeditions to Roanoke. White was later appointed Governor and Raleigh named 12 assistants to aid in the settlement. They were ordered to travel to Roanoke to check on the settlers, but when they arrived on July 22, 1587, they found nothing except a skeleton that may have been the remains of one of the English garrison.^[6]

When they could find no one, ^[6] the fleet's commander, Simon Fernandez, refused to let the colonists return to the ships, insisting they establish the new colony on Roanoke.^[5]:215 His motive remains unclear.

White re-established relations with the Croatans and local tribes, but those with whom Lane had fought previously refused to meet with him. Shortly thereafter, colonist George Howe was killed by a native while searching alone for crabs in Albemarle Sound.^[9]:120–23

Fearing for their lives, the colonists persuaded Governor White to return to England to explain the colony's desperate situation and ask for help.^[9]:120–23 Left behind were about 115 colonists – the remaining men and women who had made the Atlantic crossing plus White's newly born granddaughter Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas.^[10]:19