Book: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 1 20

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For a land so distinguished in natural charms, and to which England
designed to devote the expanding energies of her people, a name was to
be found worthy of future love. The Queen selected "Virginia," and none
can deplore the graceful choice. She remembered her own unmarried state;
and connecting, it may be, with this the virgin purity which yet seemed
to linger amid this favored region, she bestowed a name which has since
interwoven itself with the most sensitive chords of a million hearts.

Raleigh had now obtained the honor of knighthood and a seat in
parliament; and deriving from this lucrative monopoly means for further
effort, he made diligent preparation for despatching another fleet to
Virginia. The second expedition consisted of seven vessels, large and
small; and that gallant spirit, Sir Richard Grenville, himself was at
its head. The war with Spain was now in progress, and the richly laden
vessel from South America and the West Indies offered tempting prizes to
English bravery. Sir Richard sailed from Plymouth, April 9, passed the
Canaries and West Indies, captured two Spanish ships, ran imminent
hazard of being wrecked on the dangerous headland now known as Cape
Fear, and reached Wocpcon on June 26th. Manteo was brought back to his
native land, and proved an invaluable guide and interpreter to his newly
made friends.

But their amicable relations with the natives were now to receive a rude
shock, from which they never recovered. At Aquascogoc, an Indian stole
from the adventurers a silver cup; and, on being detected, he did not
return it as speedily as was desired (July 16). For this enormous
offence the English burned the town and barbarously destroyed the
growing corn. The affrighted inhabitants fled to the woods, and thus a
poisoned arrow was planted in their bosoms, which rankled unto the end.
A silver cup, in the eyes of European avarice, was a loss which could
only be atoned by ruin and devastation; and had the unhappy savage
stolen the only child of the boldest settler, a more furious vengeance
could not have followed! To such conduct does America owe the undying
hatred of the aboriginal tenants of her land, and the burden of infamy
that she must bear when weighed in the scales of immaculate justice.

A serious attempt was now made to found a colony. One hundred eight men
were left on the island of Roanoke, comprising in their number some of
the boldest hearts and many of the best cultivated minds that had left
the mother-country. Among them was Thomas Heriot, whom Raleigh had sent
out with a full knowledge of his scientific acquirements, his love of
investigation, and his moral worth. Sir Richard Grenville returned to
England, where he arrived in September, bringing with him a rich Spanish
prize.

The settlers, thus left to their own resources, seem to have done little
in the all-important task of clearing the country and planting corn for
future necessities. Ralph Lane had been appointed governor, a man
uniting military knowledge with experience in the sea. He undertook
several voyages of exploration, penetrated north as far as Elizabeth
River and a town on Chesapeake Bay, and south to Secotan, eighty leagues
from Roanoke. But his most famous expedition was up Albemarle Sound and
the Chowan River, of his adventures in which he has himself given us a
description in a letter preserved by Captain Smith. The King of the
Chawanooks was known by the title of Menatonon. He was lame in one of
his lower limbs, but his spirit seems to have been one of uncommon
activity and shrewdness. He told the credulous English of a country,
four days' journey beyond them, where they might hope for abundant
riches.

This country lay on the sea; and its king, from the waters around his
island retreat, drew magnificent pearls in such numbers that they were
commonly used in his garments and household conveniences. Instantly the
fancies of the eager listeners were fired with the hope of attaining
this wealth; and notwithstanding the scarcity of food, and the danger of
an assault by "two or three thousand" savages, they continued to toil up
the river. They labored on until they had nothing for sustenance except
two dogs of the mastiff species and the sassafras leaves which grew in
great abundance around them. Upon this inviting fare they were fain to
nourish their bodies, while their souls were fed upon the hope of
finally entering this region of pearls; but at length, in a state near
to starvation, they returned to Roanoke, having made no discovery even
so valuable as a copper spring high up the Chowan River, concerning
which the Indians had excited their hopes.

Thomas Heriot employed his time in researches more rational than those
which sought for pearls amid the wilderness of America. He intermingled
freely with the Indian tribes, studied their habits, their manners,
their language, and origin. He sought to teach them a theology more
exalted than the fancies of their singular superstition, and to expand
their minds by a display of the instruments of European science. He
acquired a vast fund of information as to the state of the original
country, its people and its products, and to his labors we may yet be
indebted in the progress of this narrative.

But we have reason to believe that a great part of the colonists
contributed nothing to the success of the scheme, and did much to render
it fruitless. The natives, who had received the first adventurers with
unsuspecting hospitality, were now estranged by the certain prospect of
seeing their provisions taken away and their homes wrested from them by
civilized pretenders. Wingina, the King of the country, had never been
cordial, and he now became their implacable foe. Nothing but a
superstitious reverence of the Bible, the fire-arms, and the medicinal
remedies of the colonists restrained his earthly enmity; but at length,
upon the death of his father, Ensenore, who had been the steady friend
of the whites, he prepared for vengeance. In accordance with a custom
common among the Indians, he had changed his name to Pemissapan, and now
drew around him followers to aid in his scheme of death. Twenty or more
were to surround the hut of Lane, drive him forth with fire, and slay
him while thus defenceless. The leader destroyed, the rest of the
colonists were to be gradually exhausted by starving, until they should
fall an easy prey to the savages. But this well-concerted plan was
betrayed to the English--a _rencontre_ occurred, and several Indians
were slain. The settlers considered themselves justifiable in meeting
the treachery of the foe by a stratagem, which drew Pemissapan and eight
of his principal men within their reach, and they were all shot down in
the skirmish (1586).

But this success did not assuage the hunger of the famished colonists.
They were reduced to extremity, when a seasonable relief appeared on
their coasts (June 8th). While despair was taking possession of their
bosoms, the white sails of a distant fleet were seen, and Sir Francis
Drake, with twenty-three ships, was soon in their waters. He had been
cruising in search of the Spaniards in the West Indies and had been
directed by the Queen to visit the Virginia colony. His quick perception
instantly discerned the wants of the settlers, and he provided for them
a ship well stored with provisions and furnished with boats to serve in
emergency. But a violent storm drove his fleet to sea and reduced to
wreck the vessel intended to sustain the settlers. Their resolution gave
way; it seemed as though divine and human power were united against
them, and, in utter despondency, they entreated Drake to receive them in
his fleet and carry them to England. He yielded to their wishes. They
embarked June 18th, and July 27th they landed once more on the shores of
their mother-land.

Thus, after a residence of nearly twelve months in Virginia, the first
colonists deserted the country which had been offered as containing all
that the heart of man could desire. Little was gained by their abortive
attempt beyond an increased knowledge of the New World, and another
lesson in the great book of depraved human nature.

It would be pleasing to the lover of Virginia to be able to record the
final good-fortune of Walter Raleigh, but nothing resulted from his
patent except successive disaster and an appalling consummation. The
determined knight had sent a ship to seek the colony; and this arrived
after the disheartened settlers had sailed with Sir Francis Drake, and,
thus finding the island deserted, it returned to England. Two weeks
afterward Sir Richard Grenville arrived with two ships well-appointed,
but no flourishing settlement greeted his eager eyes. Unwilling to
abandon the semblance of hope, he left fifteen men on the island, well
provided with all things essential to their comfort, and then spread his
sails for England (1587).

In the succeeding year Raleigh prepared for another attempt. Convinced
that the Bay of Chesapeake, which had been discovered by Lane, afforded
greater advantages for a colony, he directed his adventurers to seek its
shores, and gave them a character of corporation for the city of
Raleigh--a name that North Carolina has since, with merited gratitude,
bestowed upon her most favored town. John White assumed command of this
expedition, and they were soon in the waters of Virginia (July 22d). The
cape to which maritime terrors have given an expressive name threatened
them with shipwreck, but at length they arrived in safety at Hatteras,
and immediately despatched a party to Roanoke to seek the settlers left
by Sir Richard Grenville. A melancholy silence pervaded the spot--the
huts were yet standing, but rank weeds and vines had overspread them,
and striven to reclaim to the wilderness the abortive efforts of human
labor. Not one man could be found, but the bones of one unhappy victim
told in gloomy eloquence of conflict and of death. From the reluctant
statements of the natives, they gathered the belief that these men had
either all perished under the attacks of overwhelming numbers, or had
gradually wasted away under the approaches of disease and famine.

A discovery so mournful held out no cheering prospects to the new
adventurers; yet they determined to renew the attempt upon the island
adjoining Hatteras. About one hundred fifteen persons were landed and
prepared for their novel life. The Indians were no longer pacific; the
spirit of Wingina had diffused itself through every bosom, and the
unfortunate mistake, which caused the death of a friendly savage,
contributed much to the general hostility. But amid so much that was
unpropitious, two events occurred to shed a faint light upon their days
(August 13th). Manteo, the faithful friend of the early visitors, was
baptized with the simple though solemn rites of the Christian faith, and
upon him was bestowed the sounding title of Lord of Dessamonpeake, and,
a few days after, the first child of European parentage was born upon
the soil of America. Eleanor, daughter of Governor White, had married
Ananias Dare, and on August 18th she gave birth to a female, upon whom
was immediately bestowed the sweet name of Virginia. It is sad to
reflect that the gentle infant of an English mother, and the first whose
eyes were opened upon the New World, should have been destined to a life
of privation and to a death of early oblivion.

But the colonists needed many things from the motherland, and determined
to send the Governor to procure them. He was unwilling to leave them
under circumstances so strongly appealing to his paternal heart, but
yielded to the general wish and sailed on August 27th. But many causes
now opposed his success in the mother-country. Spain was threatening a
descent with her formidable Armada, and England was alive with
preparations to meet the shock. Raleigh and Grenville entered with
enthusiasm into the interests of their country, and were no longer in a
state to furnish aid for a distant colony. Not until April 22, 1588,
could they prepare two small barks for a voyage to Virginia, and these,
drawn away by their eager thirst for Spanish prizes laden with Mexican
gold, wandered from their route, and were driven back by superior
enemies to their original ports.

Yielding to his disappointment and mortification at these repeated
disasters, and exhausted in money by his enormous outlays, Raleigh no
longer hoped for success from his own exertions. Forty thousand pounds
had been expended and no return had been made. On March 7, 1589, he
assigned his patent to Thomas Smith, Richard Hakluyt, and others, who
had the means and the experience of merchants, or rather he extended to
them the rights enjoyed under his patent and exercised by him in giving
the charter for the "City of Raleigh." With this assignment he gave one
hundred pounds for the propagation of Christian principles among the
savages of Virginia.

But the energetic soul of Raleigh no longer ruled, and doubtful zeal
impelled the assignees. Not until March, 1590, could Governor White
obtain three ships for his purposes; and though their names might have
incited him, by the motives both of earthly hope and religious trust,
yet he preferred an avaricious cruise among the West India Isles to a
speed which might, peradventure, have preserved the life of his
daughter. He arrived at Hatteras August 15th, and sought the settlers
left there three years before. The curling smoke of grass and trees in
flame gave them encouragement, but they sought in vain their
long-neglected friends. On the bark of a tree was found the word
"Croatan," legibly inscribed, and White hoped, from the absence of the
cross, which he himself had suggested as a sign of distress, that the
settlers were still in being; but as they proceeded to Croatan a furious
storm arose and drove them from the coast, and their dismayed spirits
could find no relief except in a return to England.

No lingering trace has ever marked the fate of this unhappy colony. The
generous Raleigh in vain sent five successive messengers to seek and
save. They were gone, and whither no tongue was left to tell. Modern
ingenuity may be indulged in the forlorn suggestion that they were
amalgamated among their savage neighbors, but sober thought will rather
fear that they perished under the mingled weight of famine, of
disappointed hope, and of Indian barbarity.




DRAKE CAPTURES CARTAGENA

HE "SINGES THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD" AT CADIZ

A.D. 1586-1587

JULIAN CORBETT


Sir Francis Drake (born in Devonshire about 1540; died in 1596),
greatest of the Elizabethan seamen, has been the subject of perhaps
equal praise and blame at the hands of the world's historians. So
famous were his exploits, and so scanty the actual knowledge of them
in his own time, that "he was not dead before his life became a
fairy-tale." But history has distinguished fact from legend in the
life of this naval hero, whose undisputed achievements have kept his
name conspicuous among his country's foremost sea-fighters.

He began his career in the coasting-trade, sailed with Sir John
Hawkins in 1567, and three years later began privateering operations
against the Spaniards in the New World, by way of making good the
losses which they had inflicted upon him. These depredations on
Spanish possessions were continued through many years, with
occasional attacks upon the coast of Spain itself. "By Spanish
historians," says an English writer, "these hostilities are
represented as unprovoked in their origin, and as barbarous in their
execution, and candor must allow that there is but too much justice
in the complaint."

Whether justifiable or not, these aggressive acts of Drake had much
to do with the desire for revenge upon England which led Philip II
to prepare for a great invasion of that country. Drake, on his
return, in 1580, from the first English circumnavigation of the
globe, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. She now gave him important
commands, and from this period at least his career may be regarded
in connection with the regular service of his sovereign.

In the autumn of 1585 Drake sailed with twenty-five ships against
the Spanish Main, harrying the coasts of the West Indies and of
northern South America. Cartagena, which he captured in 1586, was
the chief port and stronghold of New Granada (now Colombia). By this
feat, as also by his "singeing of the beard of the Spanish King" at
Cadiz next year, he assailed with telling effect the power with
which England was at once to be brought into more serious conflict.


The mill of Philip's purpose went grinding on relentlessly. He invited a
large fleet of English corn-ships to the relief of his famine-stricken
provinces, and then, as they lay unsuspecting in his ports, he seized
them every one. Never once was the growing armada out of his mind. This
atrocious outrage was but to feed his monster, and swift and sharp was
the retribution it earned. It was in the last days of May, and, ere June
was out, far and near the seas were swarming with English privateers,
and "The Dragon" was unchained.

Fortified with letters of marque to release the embargoed vessels, Drake
hoisted his flag at Plymouth on the Elizabeth Bonaventura, and there, by
the end of July, "in all jollity and with all help and furtherance
himself could wish," a formidable fleet gathered round him. Frobisher
was his vice-admiral, Francis Knollys his rear-admiral, and Thomas
Fenner his flag-captain. Christopher Carleill was there, too, as
lieutenant-general, with a full staff and ten companies under him. No
such privateering squadron had ever been seen before. It consisted of
two battle-ships and eighteen cruisers, with their complement of
store-ships and pinnaces; it was manned with a force of soldiers and
sailors to the number of two thousand three hundred, and it is not
surprising that constant difficulties delayed its departure.

Yet delay was dangerous in the extreme. The Spanish party had again
taken heart, and were whispering caution in the Queen's ear. Even
Burghley grew nervous that she would repent; but at last he got
sailing-orders sent off, and, with a sigh of relief, entered in his
diary that Drake had gone. To his horror came back a letter from the
admiral still dated from Plymouth, instead of from Finisterre, as he had
hoped, and he sent down a warning to urge the immediate departure of the
fleet. August wore away, and the equipment was still incomplete, when
Drake, who was now in constant dread of a countermand, was alarmed by
Sir Philip Sydney's suddenly appearing at Plymouth and announcing his
intention of accompanying the expedition. Determined to have no more to
do with courtiers and amateur soldiers, he secretly sent off a courier
to betray the truant's escapade to the Court. He must even be suspected,
in his desperation, of having set men in wait to intercept and destroy
any orders that were not to his liking. The precaution was unnecessary.
Sydney was peremptorily stopped, and ere any letter came to stay Drake,
too, the wind had shifted northerly, and, all unready as he was, he
cleared for Finisterre.

There he arrived on September 26th. He was clear away, but that was all.
He was short both of water and victuals. There had not even been time to
distribute the stores he had, or to issue his general orders to the
fleet. He smelt foul weather, too; and, determined to complete somewhere
what he had left undone at Plymouth, he boldly ran in under the lee of
the Bayona Islands in Vigo Bay. The old Queen's officers were aghast.
Entirely dominated by the prestige of Spain, they believed that nothing
could be done against her except by surprise, and they trembled to see
their admiral thus recklessly fling his cards upon the table. But he
knew what he was doing. As with sagacious bravado he had sprung ashore
at Santa Marta, and had mocked the Spanish fleet in Cartagena harbor, so
now before he struck he exulted that his unfleshed host should hear him
shout "_En garde!_" to the King of Spain; that they should listen while
he cried that England cared not for spying traitors, for she had nothing
to conceal; that her fleets meant to sail when and where they would, and
Philip might do his worst. It was a stroke of that divine instinct which
marks out a hero from among able captains--the magic touch of a great
leader of men, under which the dead fabric of an army springs into life
and feels every fibre tingling with the strong purpose of its heart.

Two leagues from the town of Bayona the fleet anchored; and resolved at
once to display his whole strength, and exercise his men in their
duties, Drake ordered out his pinnaces and boats for a reconnaissance in
force. His boldness bore immediate fruit. The Governor sent off to
treat, and by nightfall it was arranged that troops should land, and in
the morning be allowed to water and collect what victuals they could.
But at midnight the threatened storm rolled up. The troops were
hurriedly reembarked; and, barely in time to escape disaster, the
flotilla regained the ships. For three days the gale continued,
threatening the whole fleet with destruction till it was got safely up
above Vigo. There the whole of the boats in which the panic-stricken
inhabitants had embarked their property were captured, and, though by
this time the Governor of Bayona had arrived with a considerable force,
he was compelled to permit Drake to carry out his purpose in peace.

By October 8th he was out in the Bayona road again, waiting for a wind
to waft him on his way, and it was reported at the Spanish court that he
had gone toward the Indies. The consternation was universal. The Marquis
of Santa Cruz, high admiral of Spain and the most renowned naval officer
in Europe, declared that not only the African islands, but the whole
Pacific coast, the Spanish Main, and the West Indies were at the
corsair's mercy, and told his master that a fleet of forty sail must be
instantly equipped for the pursuit. But though for another fortnight
Drake rode defiantly at the Bayona anchorage, not a limb of Philip's
inert machinery could be moved against him; and, while the chivalry of
Spain chafed under their sovereign's deliberation, the second blow was
struck.

Madeira was passed by and the Canaries spared; for Palma, which Drake
intended should revictual him, showed so bold a front that he would not
waste time in trying to reduce it. It was on another point that his
implacable glance was fixed.

Five years ago at Santiago, the chief town of the Cape Verd Islands,
young William Hawkins, a personal adherent of Drake's, had been made the
victim of some such treachery as his father and captain had suffered
together at Vera Cruz. From that hour it was doomed. In the middle of
November the fleet arrived in the road and the troops landed. Threatened
by Carleill from the heights above the valley where it lies, and from
the sea by Drake, without a blow the town was abandoned to its fate. For
ten days the island was scoured for plunder and provisions, and ere the
month was out the anchorage was desolate and Santiago a heap of ashes.

Drake's vengeance was complete, and, exulting like Gideon in the
devastation that marked his course, he led his ships across the
Atlantic. Is there a moment in history more tragic than that? For the
first time since the ages began, a hostile fleet was passing the
ocean--the pioneer of how many more that have gone and are yet to
go--the forerunner of how much glory and shame and misery! What wonder
if the curse of God seemed upon it? Hardly had it lost sight of land
when it was stricken with sickness. In a few days some three hundred men
were dead, and numbers of others prostrate and useless; but in unshaken
faith, and with reverent wonder at the inscrutable will of Heaven, Drake
never flinched or paused. His only thought was how to check the evil. At
Dominica he got fresh provisions from the natives, and refreshed his
sick with a few days on shore. At St. Christopher he again halted to
spend Christmas and elaborate the details of his next move.

The point where Philip was now to feel the weight of his arm was the
fair city of Santo Domingo in Espanola. It was by far the most serious
operation Drake had yet undertaken. Hitherto his exploits had been
against places that were little more than struggling settlements, but
Santo Domingo was indeed a city, stone-built and walled, and flanked
with formidable batteries. It was held by a powerful garrison, as Drake
learned from a captured frigate, and a naval force had been concentrated
in the harbor for its defence. As the oldest town in the Indies, its
renown had hitherto secured it from attack, and in Spain it was held the
queen city of the colonial empire. The moral effect of its capture would
be profound, and, besides, from Virginia the governor of Raleigh's new
colony had sent home a fabulous report of its wealth. Drake was fully
alive to the gravity of the task before him. His dispositions had never
been so elaborate, and they evince at least a touch of that military
genius which the strategists of the next century denied him. While the
sick were recruiting he sent forward a squadron to reconnoitre, and, if
possible, to open communications with the maroons who infested the
hills. For three days the garrison was thus exhausted with constant
alarms, and then on January 1, 1586, the whole fleet appeared in the
bay.

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