Blue Birds (20 page)

I learn the rhythm

of the morning fields,

sunshine ripening

burnished corn,

the stillness

of the afternoons,

the coolness

of the shimmering stream,

the melody

of the evening—

mealtime voices,

the thundering fire,

the silent song of moon and stars

spread across the heavens.

How is this way of living new to me?

Its music

I have somehow

always known.

It has been three summers

since English boats

have huddled near the beach

as they do now.

All night,

the men aboard

call to the shore,

their voices rise together.

Summer is a-coming in

Loudly sing cuckoo

The song,

it puzzles me.

Groweth seed and bloweth mead

and springs the wood anew

Sing cuckoo!

A memory

from another time.

“We are here!” their noises say.

“We're searching for our countrymen.”

My mother worries

when I tell her I want to see them,

but Kimi understands.

——

At dawn they come ashore.

I crouch behind reeds.

Their dark backs bob like driftwood

as they trudge from the beach.

How hot they must be

with such heavy clothing,

how odd to see again

whiskers on men's faces,

not smooth cheeks plucked clean.

Though curiosity sparks within me,

there's no desire to call to them,

show them I am near.

For this I fully understand:

The English are no longer mine.

The Governor is frailer now.

“Someone's been here.

These recent tracks

were left by Indians.”

I see the marks he speaks of—

no impressions made with English shoes,

just footprints in the sand.

My own.

I follow the men to the village,

knowing rubble is all they'll find.

Those who went to Chesapeake

broke down houses,

barracks, forge

to use again.

Those few who went with Manteo

took all else left behind.

“They've disappeared,” the Governor says,

“lost like the fifteen men.”

Lost.

The word sounds strange,

for it doesn't speak of me.

Once,

I was a part of these people.

Three years have passed.

It was not long ago.

At times I ache

for Samuel,

Mother,

Father,

even George,

yet it is hard to remember

before Kimi was my sister,

Roanoke my world.

The men search the village.

“Croatoan!”

The Governor traces the letters

he finds on the palisade,

hope alight in his voice.

“Let us go to them.”

I watch them

until I can no longer see,

inspect my naked feet,

brush the dirt from my soles,

in haste run to my village,

hurry to the place

I belong.

Algonquian is a language family with over two dozen dialects. The following words from a now-extinct dialect would have been used by the Croatoan and Roanoke peoples.

iacháwanes—Eastern bluebird. John White's watercolor of iacháwanes is now at the British Museum and can be seen online:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_detailsaspx?objectId=728253&partId=1&people=103070&peoA=103070-2-23&page=1

maquowoc—opossum

montoac—great spiritual power; mysterious power. An object could contain montoac and would benefit and strengthen its owner

weroance—chief or leader; literally means “he is rich,” “he is of influence,” or “he is wise”

weroansqua—female leader

Why do I write historical fiction? For the same reason I used to teach history. I'm nosey, plain and simple. While this is not an especially polite thing to admit about myself, it's what makes historical fiction a beautiful fit for me. Research lets me dig into other people's experiences and live in their world. It's a perfectly respectable way to satisfy my curiosity.

While teaching fifth-grade social studies in 2008, I rediscovered the mystery of England's first settlement—the unsuccessful one, what we now call the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Though our textbook devoted just a few small paragraphs to the Lost Colony, it was enough to stir my nosey side. When a student gave me a book called
National Geographic Mysteries of History
, which devoted a chapter to these English settlers, it was enough to seal the deal. I knew I'd write a book about Roanoke someday.

These are the things we know to be true:

In 1584, English explorers landed at Roanoke Island. Sir Walter Ralegh
1
, a member of Queen Elizabeth's court, sponsored the voyage. A painter named John White was part of this first expedition, and he recorded much of what we now know of the plants, animals, and native people of that time. The crew returned to England with Manteo, of the Croatoan tribe, and Wanchese, a Roanoke, as ambassadors, as well as news of all they'd seen.

In 1585, the English returned to Roanoke to build the fort we now call Fort Raleigh. They named the island and the surrounding land Virginia, in honor of the Queen. On the voyage were John White, Manteo, and Wanchese. Wanchese quickly returned to the Roanoke, but Manteo stayed on as interpreter. The English leaned heavily on their Roanoke and Croatoan friends, asking for food and assistance. Both tribes were supportive of the English at first, but backed away as their demands for food increased and illness spread to their people.

By the summer of 1586, when English privateer Sir Francis Drake stopped at Roanoke to check on the colonists, they jumped at the chance to leave with him.

Just six weeks later, the third group of English settlers arrived. They'd left England months before, planning to bring more soldiers and supplies to those at Fort Raleigh. They were amazed to find the fort abandoned, but left fifteen men to keep the fort in English hands.

Back in England, John White spent much of 1586 and early 1587 recruiting people interested in settling Virginia. During the 1585 journey, White and others had explored the mainland north of Roanoke, where they found fertile land and friendly people. The plan was to start fresh in this area with families this time. Still backed by Sir Walter Ralegh, this community would be named for him.

On July 22, 1587, 117 men, women, and children arrived in Virginia, ready to start the city of Ralegh in the Chesapeake Bay. But they were abandoned by pilot Simon Ferdinando on the island of Roanoke instead. These are the people we now know as the Lost Colony.

Upon their arrival, Governor John White found sun-bleached bones and the English fort empty. Vines grew through windows, and deer roamed the empty village. The colonists worked to make the fort livable for the coming winter and planned to relocate to Chesapeake in the spring.

On July 29, while crabbing, George Howe Sr. was killed by the Roanoke.

On July 30, John White, Manteo, and several of White's assistants sailed to Croatoan, Manteo's home. The English wanted to “renew the old love between us and them. . . and to live with them as brethren.”
2
They asked the Croatoan to contact the Roanoke, telling them the same. How John White thought this might be possible is puzzling, for in 1586, after tension had built for months between the English and Roanoke, the English had attacked, beheading their weroance,
Wingina.

From the Croatoan the English learned the Roanoke, led by Wanchese, had killed two of the fifteen English soldiers left on the island in 1586, trapped the others in a building, and set it on fire. The soldiers escaped and were last seen traveling north in Roanoke canoes.

The days passed with no response. Governor John White realized there was no friendship left to be recovered. He chose to attack. Twenty-seven men sneaked to the Roanoke camp in the early morning of August 9. But the Roanoke had fled. The Croatoan, who some historians believe had come early for the peace talks, were there instead, gathering the corn the Roanoke had left behind. Unknowingly, the English attacked their allies. Before it was all over, several Croatoan were dead.

Four days later, on August 13, Manteo was baptized as Lord of Roanoke and Desemunkepeuc, making a Croatoan the English ruler of these lands.

John White's granddaughter Virginia Dare was born August 18. Several days later, the Harvie family welcomed their own child.

By August 22, the colonists knew their situation was dire. They lived with hostile neighbors and had attacked their only allies. The supply ships that were to come the following year wouldn't know where to find them. The Governor's assistants begged John White to sail back to England with Ferdinando. He refused at first, probably because he feared it would look as if he'd deserted them. But the assistants insisted. Before the Governor's departure on August 27, he told the colonists if they left the island, they were to leave word of where to find them by carving their location on a tree. If they were in danger, they were to include a cross in their carving.

For three years, White tried to return to Virginia, but a war between England and Spain and several failed voyages kept him away. When he finally arrived off Roanoke's coast in 1590, sailors blew a horn and sang English songs far into the night. The following morning, White found the English village deserted. The buildings were gone.
CRO
was carved on a tree close to the beach.
CROATOAN
was left on a palisade pole. No cross was included with either engraving. The only recent sign of life was a footprint. White and his men returned to their ships, determined to sail to Croatoan. But a hurricane forced them out to sea.

Who were the people of the Lost Colony? They came from all walks of life—carpenters, smiths, and craftsmen—and were mainly middle-class residents of London eager to get away from the overpopulated, disease-laden, crime-ridden city. They knew nothing of Roanoke's history—and why should they? They were going somewhere else entirely.

In studying the names of passengers from the 1587 voyage, I noticed that of the eleven children listed, there were no girls. Why would that be? Were the girls left behind with their mothers to arrive at a later date? If a girl had come to Roanoke, what would it have been like to be the only one? I knew I wanted to explore a solitary girl character. Adding her to the Harvie family felt practical, as they'd have a built-in nursemaid.

Little has been recorded about the Roanokes' daily lives, though it is known women adorned themselves with tattoos (men wore tattoos on their shoulders to show which weroance they claimed). Both men and women wore jewelry. It is not too much of a stretch to assume the tattooing was part of a coming-of-age ceremony. I've taken the liberty of keeping the Roanoke in their island village in 1587 (where some lived in a satellite community during the summer months, but had abandoned sometime before Wingina's death, in an attempt to distance themselves from the English). Wingina and Wanchese were not related, though both served as Roanoke weroance. Kimi (meaning “secret”) and Alawa (“little pea”) are also my creation.

Why did Simon Ferdinando leave the colonists at Roanoke? No one really knows. Some historians think he wanted to raid Spanish ships before returning to England. Though White's records show he and Ferdinando argued throughout the voyage, why they argued is unknown. Historians generally agree John White was not the strongest of leaders. Perhaps the fate of the Lost Colony would have been different if White had stood up to Ferdinando.

What really happened to the Lost Colony? Though John White never saw them again, we know that at least some of them left Roanoke for Croatoan, if we take them at their word. Beyond that it's a mystery. There are plenty of theories: They sailed north to the Chesapeake and lived peacefully with tribes there, only to be wiped out by Chief Powhatan just before the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607; they were captured by mainland tribes and forced to work in copper mines; they intermarried with Manteo's people.

The last theory is supported by a remarkable piece of history: In 1703, a man named John Lawson was hired to survey North Carolina, the northern portion of the Carolina province, which was formed in 1629 and by this time included the islands Roanoke and Croatoan. He went to Croatoan (now Hatteras Island) and spoke with the people there. They told Lawson they had ancestors who dressed as he did and could also “talk in a book” (write).
3
And he noticed something that still intrigues me: A number of the Hatteras people had gray eyes instead of brown.

Were these people the descendants of the 1587 colonists and the Croatoan? What other explanation can there be?