Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, North CarolinaPorter, Charles W., III (Charles Wesley)
History
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, North Carolina
Porter, Charles W., III (Charles Wesley)
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (N.C.); Roanoke Colony; Roanoke Island (N.C.) -- History
In the year 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh organized another colonial
expedition consisting of 150 persons. Its truer colonizing character was
evidenced by the significant facts that, unlike the expedition of 1585,
this one included women and children, and the men were called
“planters.” Its government was also less military, since the direction
of the enterprise in Virginia was to be in the hands of a syndicate of
sub-patentees—a governor and 12 assistants whom Raleigh incorporated as
the “Governor and Assistants of the Citie of Ralegh in Virginia.”
The new arrangement indicated that colonization was becoming less of a
one-man venture and more of a corporate or business enterprise,
anticipating in a certain degree the later English companies that were
to found successful colonies in Virginia and New England. Exactly what
inducements Raleigh offered to the planters are not known. His terms
were probably liberal, however, because Hariot, writing in February
1587, paid tribute to Raleigh’s generosity, saying that the least that
he had granted had been 500 acres of land to each man willing to go to
America. Those contributing money or supplies, as well as their person,
probably stood to receive more. From the list of names that has come
down to us, it would appear that at least 10 of the planters took their
wives with them. Ambrose Viccars and Arnold Archard brought not only
their wives but one child each, Ambrose Viccars and Thomas Archard.
Altogether there were at least 17 women and 9 children in the group that
arrived safely in Virginia.
In still another respect, this second colonial expedition seemed to
anticipate the later Jamestown settlement. Raleigh had directed, in
writing, that the fort and colony be established in the Chesapeake Bay
area where a better port could be had and where conditions for
settlement were considered to be more favorable.
[Illustration: _The Indian Village of Pomeiooc, engraved by De Bry
from a drawing by John White._]
[Illustration: _The Virginia Dare marker at Fort Raleigh_]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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