4 86 
 22 
 
 R2 H3 
 opy 1 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 Marshall DeLancey Haywood 
 
 This address, originally delivered under the auspices of the 
 Roanoke Colony Memorial Association, is republished by 
 General Julian S. Carr, President of the Sir Walter 
 Raleigh Monument Association, for the informa- 
 tion of those who may contemplate contribut- 
 ing to the fund being raised to erect a 
 statue of Raleigh in the State Capital of 
 North Carolina named in his honor 
 
 EDWARDS ft BROUSHTON PRINTING CO.. RALEIGH. N. C 
 

 SIR WALTER RALEIGH* 
 
 An Address Delivered at Old Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island, 
 North Carolina, at the Celebration of Virginia 
 Dare Day, August 19, 1913. 
 
 BY MARSHALL DeLANCEY HAYWOOD, 
 
 Member Roanoke Colony Memorial Association, General Historian of the Sons of the 
 
 Revolution, Historian of the Masonic Grand Lodge of North Carolina, 
 
 Historiographer of the Diocese of North Carolina, etc. 
 
 My Friends and Fellow-Countrymen: 
 
 To be invited to appear before this company today, amid 
 such inspiring surroundings, is an honor which might well 
 natter the pride of any true American, and I value it most 
 highly. For many years I have been a member of the Roan- 
 oke Colony Memorial Association, but never until last night 
 was it my privilege to set foot upon Roanoke Island. 
 
 The purchase and reclamation of the site on which stand 
 the remains of this old fortress were due to the efforts of the 
 late Professor Edward Graham Daves, a native North Caro- 
 linian residing in the city of Baltimore. This scholarly gen- 
 tleman associated with himself a number of patriotic per- 
 sons who were interested in historical and antiquarian work, 
 and soon raised funds sufficient for the purchase of Fort 
 Raleigh. During the Christmas holidays of 1893, I first had 
 the pleasure of forming the acquaintance of Professor Daves 
 when he came to my home town and delivered an interesting 
 and instructive lecture on Roanoke Island and the daring 
 Englishmen who first discovered and colonized it. In the 
 
 *Owing to the length of this paper, parts were omitted in delivery 
 
2 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 following April I spent several happy days at his hospitable 
 home in Baltimore, and there learned more of the work he 
 had so much at heart, but a few months later I was greatly 
 shocked to hear of his death, which occurred while he was on 
 a visit to Boston. His only son at present surviving is Mr. 
 John Collins Daves, of Baltimore, now vice-president of this 
 Association. From its organization up to the time of his 
 death, Professor Daves was president of the Association, and 
 he was succeeded in office by his no less patriotic brother 
 Major Graham Daves, of New Bern, in this State, who zeal- 
 ously pushed forward the work. After the death of Major 
 Daves, which occurred in 1902, Vice-President William D. 
 Pruden became acting president, and later was succeeded by 
 the present incumbent, the Reverend Robert Brent Drane, 
 D.D. Both Mr. Pruden and Doctor Drane have rendered 
 and are still rendering valuable services to the good cause 
 of keeping alive the glorious memories of this spot. 
 
 Nor must I fail to mention those who have filled the office 
 of Secretary-Treasurer of this Association. The first Secre- 
 tary-Treasurer was Professor John Spencer Bassett, a stu- 
 dent and teacher of history, born in our State but now resid- 
 ing in Massachusetts. Upon his resignation, Mr. A. B. An- 
 drews, Jr., of Raleigh, was chosen. Miss Leah D. Jones (now 
 Mrs. Charles L. Stevens), of New Bern, next succeeded; 
 and, in turn, gave place to Mr. William Blount Shepard, of 
 Edenton, who discharged the duties of that office until his 
 much-lamented death last January. Mr. Shepard's succes- 
 sor is the present capable and energetic incumbent, Dr. Rich- 
 ard Dillard, also of Edenton. 
 
 In making choice of a subject on which to speak this morn- 
 ing, I have selected Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the great- 
 est men of whom the annals of England can boast, and also 
 one of the most versatile — statesman, colonizer, explorer, 
 fort-builder, ship-builder, historian, courtier, soldier, sailor, 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 3 
 
 scientist, chemist, poet, and orator. An English writer, Hep- 
 worth Dixon, has said : "Raleigh is still a power among us ; 
 a power in the Old World and in the New World ; hardly less 
 visible in England than in America, where the beautiful 
 capital of a chivalrous nation bears his name." To Raleigh 
 belonged the masterful mind and guiding hand which first 
 sent forth English civilization to this continent and this 
 spot more than three centuries ago. 
 
 There are countless variations in the spelling of the 
 surname Raleigh,* but only one pronunciation — with a very 
 broad Devonshire accent on the first syllable, as if it were 
 written Rawley, and that was the way it was written when 
 young Walter was entered as a student at the University of 
 Oxford. He himself wrote it Ralegh, in later life. His- 
 torians, as a general rule, use the orthography Raleigh, which 
 is the form I shall adopt — from force of habit, as our State 
 so named its capital city, wherein I have spent my life. 
 
 When this land of ours was first discovered the "Virgin 
 Queen" of England called it Virginia in honor of herself, 
 but let me remind you that North Carolina is the "Virginia" 
 of Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh. The present 
 State of Virginia was not settled until 1607, when Elizabeth 
 had been in her grave four years and when the heroic Raleigh 
 was mewed up in the Tower of London by that great Queen's 
 unworthy successor. The eminent English historian, James 
 Anthony Froude, in his work entitled English Seamen in 
 the Sixteenth Century, says: "Of Raleigh there remains 
 nothing in Virginia save the name of the city called after 
 him." Ladies and gentlemen, there is a very small village 
 called Raleigh somewhere in West Virginia (which State was 
 a part of Virginia until 1862), but I have personal knowledge 
 of the fact that Doctor Eroude was slightly mistaken in his 
 supposition that the "city of Raleigh" — North Carolina's 
 
 •Stebbing's Life of Paleiph, pp. 30-31. 
 
4 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 beautiful capital — is in Virginia. I was born in the city of 
 Raleigh, my home still stands within its limits ; and it grieves 
 me bayond measure to see so great a historian as Froude com- 
 placently present my native town to our sister State of Vir- 
 ginia. I refuse to be moved in any such way. And then, 
 too, Virginia has recently drawn so heavily upon North Caro- 
 lina in the matter of men that she should be willing for us 
 to keep both the city of Raleigh and Roanoke Island with 
 this old fortress built by Sir Walter's colonists. There is 
 scarcely an institution of any importance in Virginia today 
 which has not had to come to North Carolina for its president. 
 Among these are the University of Virginia, Washington 
 and Lee University, the Union Theological Seminary, the 
 Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the Virginia Life In- 
 surance Company, and the Virginia Trust Company, while 
 the general manager (though not titular president) of the 
 Old Dominion Trust Company is also a North Carolinian. 
 In view of all this, Ladies and Gentlemen, it does seem to me 
 that Virginia should be duly grateful for what North Caro- 
 lina has already done for her, and leave us in the quiet and 
 undisturbed possession of Roanoke Island and our capital 
 city of Raleigh. 
 
 But I am drifting from my subject. I came here not to 
 discourse upon self -exiled North Carolinians residing in Vir- 
 ginia, but to call your attention to the career of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, under whose patronage came the English explorers 
 who claimed this land in the name of Queen Elizabeth in 
 the year of our Lord 1584. 
 
 It may be well to state, at the outset, a fact already known 
 to most of you, that Raleigh himself never saw the North 
 American continent, though he was twice in South America. 
 Nevertheless his was the world-vision and his was the purse 
 without which the expeditions to this place would not have 
 been undertaken so soon. 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. O 
 
 Many of my hearers may recall the striking observation 
 of Macaulay concerning the navy of Great Britain in the 
 latter half of the seventeenth century. Said that historian: 
 " There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy 
 of Charles II. But the seamen were not gentlemen, and the 
 gentlemen were not seamen." However true this may have 
 been in the days of King Charles, it was widely different in 
 the reign of his great predecessor Queen Elizabeth, many of 
 whose fleets and vessels were commanded by men of high birth 
 as well as approved valor. Sea-fighting was then considered 
 a gentleman's trade, and there was no surer road to the 
 Queen's favor than to join the ranks of those who were her 
 main reliance when struggling with Spain for the freedom 
 of the seas. In all England there was no shire so prolific of 
 these hardy aventurers as Devon, the birthplace of Ealeigh. 
 Says the novelist Kingsley : "It was the men of Devon, the 
 Drakes and Hawkinses, Gilberts and Raleighs, Grenvilles and 
 Oxenhams, and a host more of 'forgotten worthies' whom 
 we shall learn one day to honor as they deserve, to whom 
 England owes her commerce, her colonies, her very exist- 
 ence." Sir Walter Raleigh was related by blood to the Gil- 
 berts, Grenvilles, and Drakes, as well as other noted Devon- 
 shire families, including the Courtneys, Carews, St. Legers, 
 and Russells. 
 
 In a recent biography of Sir Walter Raleigh by William 
 Stebbing (who uses the orthography Ralegh) an account of 
 the Raleigh family is given as follows : "The Raleghs were 
 an old Devonshire family, once wealthy and distinguished. 
 At one period five knightly branches of the house flourished 
 simultaneously in the county. In the reign of Henry III a 
 Ralegh had been Justiciary. There were genealogists who, 
 though others doubted, traced the stock to the Plantagenets 
 through an intermarriage with the Clares. The Clare arms 
 have been found quartered with those of Ralegh on a Ralegh 
 
6 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 pew in East Budleigh Church. The family had held Sinall- 
 ridge, near Axminster, from before the Conquest. Since the 
 reign of Edward III it had been seated on the edge of Dart- 
 moor, at Eardell. There it built a picturesque mansion and 
 chapel. The Ealeghs of Fardell were, writes Polwhele, 'es- 
 teemed ancient gentlemen.' But the rapacious lawyers of 
 Henry VII had discovered some occasion against Wimund 
 Ralegh, the head of the family in their day. They thought 
 him worth the levy of a heavy fine for misprision of treason ; 
 and he had to sell Smallridge." Wimund Raleigh, whose 
 wife was a Grenville, left a son Walter, born in 1497. This 
 Walter engaged at times in seafaring, and owned three sepa- 
 rate estates, viz. : Eardell, Colaton-Raleigh, Wythecombe- 
 Raleigh, and Bollams. His third wife was Mrs. Katherine 
 Gilbert, widow of Otho Gilbert of Compton Castle and Green- 
 way Castle, and a daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun of 
 Modbury. To this marriage were born several children, 
 among whom was Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom I shall speak 
 today. 
 
 Walter Raleigh, afterwards known to fame as Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, was born at Hayes, in Budleigh Parish, Devonshire. 
 Some accounts give 1552 as the year of his birth, though the 
 inscriptions on several of his oldest engraved portraits seem 
 to indicate that he was born in 1554. Two pictures, slightly 
 differing, of the house where he was born may be found in 
 the first volume of the History of North Carolina, by Francis 
 L. Hawks, and in the fifth volume of Applet oris Cyclopaedia 
 of American Biography. Raleigh's father, having determined 
 that his son should have educational advantages becoming his 
 station in life, entered him as a student in Oriel College at 
 the University of Oxford, in 1568. In the following year 
 young Raleigh went abroad and pursued his studies in the 
 University of France, but left that institution to fight as a 
 volunteer under the renowned Huguenot leaders the Prince 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 de Conde and Admiral Coligny. He was present at the bat- 
 tles of Jarnac and Moncontour ; but was absent from Paris, 
 though still in France, at the time of the Massacre of St. 
 Bartholomew. In 1576 he was again in London, but a year 
 or two later went to the Netherlands and assisted the Hol- 
 landers in their warfare against the Spaniards under the 
 Duke of Alva. 
 
 Soon after Raleigh's return to England from the Nether- 
 lands his thoughts began to turn to the New World beyond 
 the seas. His eldest half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
 had set hope on western discoveries as early as 1566, but at 
 that time Queen Elizabeth was unwilling for him to absent 
 himself from Ireland, where he was president of the English 
 colony recently established in Munster. By 1578, however, 
 Gilbert renewed his efforts, and was engaged in fitting out a 
 fleet of eleven ships at Dartmouth, in Devonshire. This enter- 
 prise Raleigh joined, but only seven of the eleven ships could 
 be gotten to sea. Gilbert was Admiral of the fleet, Carew 
 (afterwards Sir Carew) Raleigh, a brother of Walter, was 
 Vice-Admiral, and Walter Raleigh commanded the Falcon. 
 Though Gilbert had announced that he was going on a voyage 
 of discovery, the unusually heavy armament carried by his 
 ships led many to believe that the "discovery" of Spaniards 
 was his chief aim. This fleet went to the Azores, and possibly 
 as far as the West Indies, engaged in an undecisive fight with 
 a Spanish sea-force, and lost one ship, which foundered in a 
 gale — the others returning to Dartmouth in 1579. 
 
 After his return to England with Gilbert's fleet, Raleigh 
 spent some time in London; and, in June, 1580, was sent to 
 Ireland as captain of a company which was to operate against 
 the insurgent natives and their Spanish allies, the latter of 
 whom had landed in that country to join forces with the ene- 
 mies of England. These Spaniards, with the assistance of 
 some Italians, had built Eort del Oro at Smerwick in county 
 
8 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 Kerry, and had heavily garrisoned that stronghold. The 
 Lord Deputy of Ireland, Baron Grey of Wilton, together 
 with the sea forces of Admiral Sir William Winter, besieged 
 this fort in due time, and it later surrendered uncondition- 
 ally. By Lord Grey's order, Raleigh and one Macworth 
 (another officer of the besiegers) marched in and put to the 
 sword more than four hundred Spaniards and Italians, also 
 hanging such of the Irish as could be found there. Some of 
 the foreign officers of rank were spared and held for ransom. 
 Though Lord Grey gave the order for this butchery, we are 
 forced to doubt if Raleigh had any scruples in performing 
 his part of the bloody work. Of him his biographer Stebbing 
 says: "Towards American Indians he could be gentle and 
 just. His invariable rule with Irishmen and Anglo-Irishmen 
 was to crush. " While Raleigh remained in Ireland he en- 
 gaged in numerous skirmishes with the insurgents, also serv- 
 ing as a member of the temporary commission for the govern- 
 ment of Munster. Returning to England in 1581, he first 
 attracted the personal notice of the Queen by throwing his 
 handsome cloak over a muddy place in her pathway at Green- 
 wich, thereby saving her shoes from being soiled. This inci- 
 dent was first recorded in 1662 (less than fifty years- after 
 Raleigh's death) by Fuller in his Worthies of England, Sir 
 Walter Scott, as many of my hearers may remember, gives a 
 graphic account of this piece of gallantry in the novel Kenil- 
 worth. 
 
 Whatever may have been the cause of Raleigh's rise in the 
 favor of Queen Elizabeth, he soon became a man of great 
 wealth in consequence of patents and monopolies received 
 through royal grants. In 1583 he was given portions of all 
 revenues from the wine licenses of the kingdom, thereafter 
 aggregating from eight hundred to two thousand pounds 
 sterling per annum. In 1584 he was knighted — an honor 
 always sparingly bestowed by the hand of Elizabeth. In the 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 9 
 
 year following be was made "Warden of the Stannaries" — 
 which, translated into our American language, means Super- 
 visor of the Tin Mines. He became Lord Lieutenant of 
 Cornwall, and Vice-Admiral of the two counties of Corn- 
 wall and Devon in 1585. In 1585 and 1586 he represented 
 the shire of Devon in Parliament; and, in the latter year, 
 obtained a vast land-grant (about forty thousand acres) in 
 the Irish counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary. This 
 grant also included the salmon fisheries of Blackwater. He 
 received, in 1587, grants of English lands in the shires of 
 Lincoln, Derby, and Nottingham, which had been forfeited 
 by Anthony Babington and other conspirators against the 
 life of Elizabeth. He also became Captain of the Queen's 
 Guard, thereby being thrown into personal attendance upon 
 Her Majesty. 
 
 I have already spoken of Raleigh's venture with Sir Hum- 
 phrey Gilbert when the.latter's fleet went on a western voyage 
 in 1578. In 1583 Gilbert fitted out another expedition of a 
 similar nature. In his fleet of five vessels the largest was the 
 bark Raleigh, furnished by Sir Walter Raleigh, who earnestly 
 desired to command it in person, but the Queen needed his 
 services at home, and forbade his departure from England. 
 After two days sailing, the Raleigh left the remainder of 
 Gilbert's fleet and returned to Plymouth, on account of sick- 
 ness which had broken out among her crew, but the admiral 
 continued on his way with his four remaining ships. He 
 finally reached a place which is now a part of Newfoundland, 
 and formally took possession of that locality in the name of 
 Queen Elizabeth. • The expedition to Newfoundland was the 
 last voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. On his return he re- 
 fused to take refuge in his largest ship, the Golden Hind, but 
 cast his fortunes with those who manned the Squirrel, a little 
 craft of ten tons, whose decks were already overburdened 
 with heavy ordnance. In the midst of a great storm, south 
 
10 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 of the Azores, the heroic Gilbert was last seen, calmly sitting 
 in his little ship with a book in hand, while night was ap- 
 proaching. As he got within hailing distance of his comrades 
 on the other vessels he called out the ever-memorable words 
 "We are as near to heaven by sea as by land," and a little 
 later his anxious friends on the Golden Hind saw the lights 
 of the Squirrel disappear from the face of the waters. 
 
 The tragic ending of this voyage of his beloved brother 
 did not deter Sir Walter Ealeigh from further efforts to 
 colonize America. In 1584, the year following, on the 25th 
 of March (which was New Year's Day under the old Julian 
 Calendar, then in use) he secured from Queen Elizabeth a 
 charter or Letters Patent, empowering him or his heirs and 
 assigns to "discover, search, find out, and view such remote 
 heathen and. barbarous lands, countries, and territories not 
 actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by 
 Christian people." He was also authorized to fortify any 
 new settlements made under his authority and to "encounter 
 and expulse, repel and resist, as well by sea as by land, and 
 by all other ways whatsoever, all and every such person or 
 persons whatsoever, as without the especial liking and license 
 of the said Walter Ealeigh, and his heirs and assigns, shall 
 attempt to inhabit within the said countries." It was pro- 
 vided that the laws enacted for the government of the new 
 settlements should be "as conveniently as may be, agreeable 
 to the form of the laws, statutes, government, or policy of 
 England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian 
 faith now professed in the Church of England." This charter 
 contained many other provisions, which it is not my purpose 
 here to quote. Suffice it to say that Raleigh was thereby 
 given what he most desired — an opportunity to extend the 
 sovereignty of England over the lands and waters of the New 
 World. 
 
 Eor the carrying out of his plans, Raleigh secured the 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 11 
 
 services of Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, two stalwart 
 English sea-captains, and fitted up for their use two barks, 
 "well furnished with men and victuals," in which they saile4 
 out of the Thames on the 27th of April, 1584. Fortunately 
 for history, a record of this voyage has been preserved in the 
 volumes of Hakluyt, it being in the form of a report to Sir 
 Walter Raleigh, written by Captain Barlowe. On June 10th 
 the explorers reached the Canaries, and just a month later 
 wended their way through the West Indies. They found the 
 climate there very unwholesome, and many members of the 
 two crews were taken sick. They tarried twelve days to re- 
 cuperate and take on fresh supplies, and then struck out for 
 this locality where good climate may always be found in 
 abundance. Delicate odors from our Carolina coast were 
 wafted to them before they sighted land, for Barlowe tells 
 us that on the 2d of July "we smelled so sweet and so strong 
 a smell as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden 
 abounding with all kinds of odoriferous flowers, by which we 
 were assured that the land could not be far distant; and, 
 keeping good watch and bearing but slack sail, the fourth of 
 the same month we arrived upon the coast, which we sup- 
 posed to be a continent and firm land, and we sailed along 
 the same a hundred and twenty English miles before we could 
 find any entrance or river issuing into the sea." 
 
 Though the above quoted record says that the voyagers 
 first reached our coast on the 4th of July, we must remember 
 that the Independence Day we now celebrate on the Fourth 
 of July does not fall on the same anniversary; for, between 
 the Julian Calendar or "old style" then used and the Gre- 
 gorian Calendar or "new style" now used, there is a differ- 
 ence of ten days, making July 14th the present anni- 
 versary of the coming of Raleigh's first expedition in 1584.* 
 
 ♦In the 18th century (Washington's birthday for example) the difference was eleven 
 days, not ten. 
 
12 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 As already stated, Captains Amadas and Barlowe sailed 
 up our coast one hundred and twenty miles before effecting 
 a landing. Finally an inlet was discovered, and the explorers 
 sailed in. Barlowe tells us that "after thanks given to God 
 for our safe arrival thither/ 7 two boats were manned and a 
 landing effected. After this, formal proclamation was made, 
 declaring that England's sovereign was "rightful Queen and 
 Princess of the same," and that the newly discovered country 
 should be held for the use of Sir Walter Raleigh by authority 
 of the Letters Patent issued to him by Her Majesty. 
 
 Some difference of opinion exists as to which of the numer- 
 ous North Carolina inlets Amadas and Barlowe first entered. 
 Many believe that the inlet they used has since been closed 
 by storms which have piled up sand-bars where the old chan- 
 nel ran. It is not my purpose to discuss that matter here. 
 It is sufficient for us to know that they were "conducted in 
 safety to the haven where they would be," that they first re- 
 turned thanks to God for deliverance from the dangers of the 
 deep, and then began viewing the lands adjacent to their 
 anchorage. 
 
 The narrative of Captain Barlowe goes quite into detail 
 explaining the habits and traits of the natives, the location 
 of lands and waters, the fauna and flora of the country, and 
 many other interesting conditions there existing, but too long 
 here to be quoted. 
 
 The ships were anchored for two days before any natives 
 were seen by the explorers. On the third day they espied 
 a small boat containing three men. Two of these remained 
 in their canoe, and the third walked up the shore near the 
 ships, later being taken on board and presented with some 
 articles of apparel. After viewing the ships with interest, 
 he returned to his own boat, later beginning to fish, and came 
 back with a large supply of fresh fish which he presented to 
 the English. The next day numerous Indians were seen in 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 13 
 
 small boats, among them being Granganimeo, brother of the 
 savage monarch who held sway in that locality. The king 
 himself, Wingina by name, had recently been wounded and 
 hence was unable to do the honors of the occasion. Gran- 
 ganimeo left his boats and came up the shore, followed by 
 forty of his braves. These spread a mat upon the ground, 
 and the king's brother seated himself thereon, as did four of 
 his principal followers. When the English approached the 
 shore, they were invited to a seat on the mat by the Indians. 
 Then Granganimeo "made all signs of joy and welcome, 
 striking on his head and breast, and afterwards on those of 
 his visitors, to show that all were one, at the same time smil- 
 ing and making the best show he could of all love and famil- 
 iarity." 
 
 Speaking of the natives Captain Barlowe says: "After 
 they had been divers times aboard the ships, myself, with 
 seven more, went twenty miles into the river that runs to- 
 wards the city of Skycoak, which river they call Occam ; and 
 the evening following we came to an island which they call 
 Eoanoak, distant from the harbor, by which we entered, seven 
 leagues." Thus was this island of Roanoke discovered by the 
 English. On it was a small village of nine houses, well forti- 
 fied after the Indian fashion. Granganimeo being absent 
 from this village, his wife came to the waterside to meet the 
 explorers, and entertained them with much pomp and cere- 
 mony, commanding her tribesmen to attend their wants, and 
 feasting them with a profusion of savage hospitality. Of 
 the natives it is recorded : "We found the people most gentle, 
 loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such 
 as live after the manner of the golden age." 
 
 After trading with the Indians for some time, learning 
 as much as they could of the country, and mapping the out- 
 lines of the coast for future use, the explorers once more be- 
 took themselves to their ships and sailed back to England, 
 
14 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 arriving safely about the middle of September. They took 
 with them two natives, Wanchese and Manteo, of whom I 
 shall have more to say later on. 
 
 At the end of Captain Barlowe's narrative is a "record of 
 some of the particular gentlemen and men of account'' who 
 were witnesses of the events which had transpired. They 
 were: Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, Captains; and 
 William Greenvile, John Wood, James Browewich, Henry 
 Greene, Benjamin Wood, Simon Ferdinando, Nicholas Pet- 
 man, and John Hewes, members of the ship's company. 
 
 One laughable mistake occurred during the stay of the 
 English in the vicinity of Roanoke Island. When they first 
 arrived, they pointed to the mainland and made signs to an 
 Indian that they wished to know the name by which the 
 whole continent was called. The Indian, not understanding, 
 replied: "Win-gan-da-coa." So it was duly reported to Sir 
 Walter Raleigh that the domain which the Queen had granted 
 him was named "Wingandacoa," and it was formally recorded 
 under that name in the contemporaneous descriptions and on 
 the maps of the newly discovered country. When later voya- 
 gers learned more of the dialect used by the savages, they 
 ascertained that when the Indian had said "Win-gan-da-coa" 
 his remark (when translated) meant: "You wear gay 
 clothes." 
 
 When Amadas and Barlowe returned to England with their 
 tales of strange adventure, and glowing accounts of the dis- 
 coveries they had made, also showing Wanchese and Marteo 
 in their wild and gorgeous costumes, the effect on the public 
 mind was almost magical. Sturdy adventurers of all ranks 
 and classes eagerly sought an opportunity to gain fortunes in 
 expeditions across the Atlantic. Elizabeth, the "Virgin 
 Queen," was so impressed with the accounts brought back 
 by Amadas and Barlowe that she named the new land "Vir- 
 ginia" in honor of her single condition in life. As for Sir 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 15 
 
 Walter Raleigh, his fame spread far and wide, and he at 
 once sought opportunities to send forth other fleets. As com- 
 mander of his next expedition he was fortunate in securing 
 the services of his kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville, member 
 of an ancient Devonshire family whose name has been spelled 
 in almost as many ways as that of Raleigh. Sir Richard him- 
 self signed it "Greynvil," the printed accounts of his voyages 
 have it recorded "Greenville" and "Granville," many (if not 
 all) of his descendants write it "Granville," and historians 
 generally use the orthography "Grenville," which last men- 
 tioned style I shall adopt. The naval annals of the world 
 can not boast of a more heroic figure than this selfsame Sir 
 Richard Grenville, who was afterwards mortally wounded 
 while fighting one English vessel, the Revenge, against a 
 Spanish fleet of fifty-three ships — an exploit immortalized 
 by Tennyson in his poem The Revenge, a ballad of the fleet, 
 1591. 
 
 It was on the 9th day 'of April, 1585, that Sir Richard 
 Grenville sailed out of Plymouth with the second expedition 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh. Grenville's fleet consisted of the fol- 
 lowing ships : the Tiger, the Roe-Buck, the Lion, the Elizar 
 beth, the Dorothy, and two small pinnaces. The "principal 
 gentlemen" in this expedition are set down as Master Ralph 
 Lane, Master Thomas Candish [Cavendish], Master John 
 Arundell, Master Raymund, Master Stukeley, Master Bre- 
 mige, Master Vincent, and Master John Clarke. Some of 
 these, we are told, were captains, and others were needed for 
 their "counsel and good discretion." Among these latter were 
 Thomas Hariot, the historian of events occurring on the 
 voyage, and John White, an artist whose paintings of Indian 
 life are still preserved in the British Museum. We shall learn 
 more of White later on. Ralph Lane, who afterwards won 
 the honor of knighthood, was Grenville's second in command, 
 and was later left at Roanoke Island as Governor of the 
 
16 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 Colony. After leaving England on its voyage to America, 
 the fleet touched at the Canaries and Antilles, and then an- 
 chored at Cotesa, a small island near the island of St. John. 
 The voyagers rested a day at Cotesa, and then sailed over 
 to Mosquito Bay, on the island of St. John. There Grenville 
 landed with some of his men and erected a fortification, later 
 adding to his fleet by building a new pinnance, which was 
 finished and launched on the 23d of May. The Spaniards 
 on the island sent a flag of truce and protested against the 
 erection of this fortress, but Grenville somewhat cooled their 
 resentment by saying he had only stopped for supplies ; that 
 he would depart from their shores in peace if these supplies 
 were furnished, but would use force if they were not. The 
 Spaniards promised compliance, but failed to keep their 
 word, whereupon Grenville set fire to his fortification and 
 sailed away, bent on squaring up matters with the Dons. 
 Within the next two days he captured two Spanish frigates, 
 ransomed the officers and some passengers of rank, and placed 
 Lane in command of one of these vessels. The fleet needing 
 salt, Captain Lane went to the southwest side of the island 
 of St. John, and landed twenty men who threw up an en- 
 trenchment, after which they commenced to get salt. We 
 are told that, when the Spaniards beheld Lane, there "came 
 down towards him two or three troops of horsemen and foot- 
 men, who gave him the looking and gazing on but durst not 
 come near him to offer any resistance." So Lane sailed off 
 and rejoined the fleet, after which they went to the island of 
 Hispaniola (now called Hayti), which was reached on the 
 1st of June. Upon news of their arrival at Hispaniola, the 
 Spanish Governor sent them a courteous message, promising 
 to call and pay his respects. He accordingly came on the 
 5th of June, "accompanied by a lusty friar and twenty other 
 Spaniards, with their servants and negroes." Thereupon 
 Grenville, with his officers and various crews, dressed up in 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 17 
 
 their gayest attire to receive them. The English, both officers 
 and men, were feasted sumptuously and provided with all 
 manner of costly entertainment during their stay, and left 
 with great good will towards the Spaniards, though the 
 chronicler of those events stated in his narrative that the 
 Englishmen believed that the courtesy of the Spaniards was 
 due to fear of Grenville's formidable armament. If the 
 Spaniards had been stronger, it was added, the English might 
 have received the same treatment which had been accorded 
 their countrymen Sir John Hawkins at San Juan d'Ulloa, 
 Captain John Oxenham near the Straits of Darien, and divers 
 others who had tasted Spanish cruelty. 
 
 After leaving Hispaniola, Grenville's fleet touched at 
 numerous small islands on its voyage northward, and finally 
 came to the coast of what is now North Carolina but which 
 these explorers called Florida. On the 23d of June, it was 
 stated that they "were in great danger of a wreck on a breach 
 called the Cape of Fear." ' On the 26th, Ocracoke Inlet (then 
 called Wococon) was reached, and two days later the Tiger 
 was run aground and sunk through the treachery (not then 
 discovered) of Simon Eerdinando, by whom she was piloted. 
 The settlers sent word of their arrival to King Wingina at 
 Eoanoke Island on July 3d, and three days later Manteo, who 
 had returned to America with the voyagers, was sent ashore. 
 Fearing to go further through the inland waters in the 
 large ships, many of the officers and crew set off, on July 
 11th, in well armed and fully provisioned pinnaces and other 
 small boats to explore the mainland. On the 16th of July 
 occurred the first act of English hostility towards the In- 
 dians—the beginning of countless bloody onslaughts and sav- 
 age reprisals which were to follow throughout the succeeding 
 centuries and extend down to a time within the memory of 
 men still living. An Indian had stolen a silver cup belonging 
 to one of the Englishmen. A party was sent to demand its 
 
18 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 return. This demand not being complied with, the village 
 and grain crops of the Indians were burned (the savages 
 themselves having fled), and the attacking party returned to 
 the fleet, on the 18th, at Wococon or Ocracoke Inlet. 
 
 At the end of July the English received a call from their 
 old friend Granganimeo, who visited the fleet in company 
 with Manteo. Granganimeo was shown through the ships 
 of the fleet, and kindly entertained during his stay. 
 
 On August 5, 1585, Captain John Arundell, having been 
 ordered to return to England, did so. The remainder of the 
 fleet, under Sir Kichard Grenville, set sail on August 25th, 
 leaving a garrison or colony of one hundred and seven men 
 on Roanoke Island.* The English Governor or "General" 
 of the colony was Ralph Lane, heretofore mentioned. These 
 colonists under Lane remained on the island nearly a year. 
 Of Laue personally, the historian Hawks observes : "He had 
 the rough courage of a soldier of his day, he endured hard- 
 ships with his men, he had judgment to see that Roanoke 
 Island was not a proper site for the colony, and to devise a 
 plan by which two parties, one on the land and the other on 
 the water, should attempt to meet and find on the Chesapeake 
 Bay a better locality, of which he had heard from an Indian 
 prince, his prisoner. He had wit and prudence enough to 
 secure the fidelity of that prisoner by keeping his only son 
 as a hostage; he pursued the wise policy of attaching that 
 son to him by great personal kindness. * * * The per- 
 sonal attachment he had created in his young hostage was the 
 means of discovering a widespread plot for the destruction 
 of the colony by the natives." The young hostage, just men- 
 tioned, was Skiko, son of Monatonon, King of the Chawa- 
 nooks or Chowan Indians. When Skiko was first captured, 
 he attempted to escape, and Lane threatened to have his head 
 cut off, thereby frightening him into better discipline. He 
 
 *For list of colonists under Lane, see Hakluyt (1810 edition), Vol. Ill, pp. 310-311. 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 19 
 
 later treated him with marked kindness, in consequence of 
 which he remained a friend of the English throughout the 
 remainder of their stay. 
 
 Lane's only sources of information concerning the interior 
 of the country, except that in his immediate neighborhood, 
 were the statements made to him by the Indians, and hence 
 his accounts are not always accurate. Like the ancient He- 
 rodotus (who recorded the wonderful tales told him by all 
 travelers and thereby gained an unenviable reputation for 
 mendacity) Lane was often misled, but narratives of what 
 came under his personal observation are trustworthy. One 
 laughable inaccuracy in the geographical knowledge of the 
 early settlers (probably based on Indian authority) was the 
 belief that a near-by river flowed out of the Gulf of Mexico or 
 some bay in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean! Another ac- 
 count said that this river gushed out of a huge rock at its 
 source, and this rock was so close to a great western sea that 
 in storms "the waves thereof are beaten into the said fresh 
 stream, so that the fresh water, for a certain space, groweth 
 salt and brackish." 
 
 During the stay of Lane's colony at Roanoke, Granganimeo 
 died, and thereby the English lost a trusty friend. Upon his 
 death, for some reason not given, his brother, King Wingina, 
 changed his name to Pemisapan. Thereafter he entered into 
 numerous confederacies with other tribes for the destruction 
 of the whites, but these conspiracies were thwarted by the 
 vigilance, courage, and sagacity of Lane, aided by timely 
 warnings from Manteo, young Skiko, and other friendly In- 
 dians. Old Ensenore, father of King Wingina alias Pemisa- 
 pan, was also friendly to the colonists, but he died on the 20th 
 of April 1586. Wanchese, who had gone to England in 
 company with the friendly Manteo, became a lifelong enemy 
 of the English, for some cause which does not now appear to 
 be recorded. 
 
20 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 Soon after the death of the King's father, the Indians 
 (having no one to restrain their unfriendly designs) entered 
 into a gigantic conspiracy for the purpose of exterminating 
 the whites. The plan was to go secretly by night and set fire 
 to the houses occupied by Lane, Hariot, and other chief men 
 of the colony; and, when they rushed from the flames, un- 
 dressed and unarmed, to shoot them down, afterwards 
 slaughtering and dispersing their followers. The secret of 
 this conspiracy was communicated to Lane by young Skiko. 
 The evil genius at the head of the proposed uprising was 
 King Pemisapan, formerly known as Wingina, and Lane 
 promptly determined to strike the first blow, and once for all 
 rid his colonists of their inveterate enemy. He sent word 
 to the savage king that he wished to meet him. The chief 
 accordingly came to a place specified, with a large following 
 of armed tribesmen. At a given signal the king was shot 
 down with a pistol, and a general battle ensued. In the 
 course of the melee, which proved a defeat for the savages, 
 their leader (who was supposed to be dead from the pistol 
 wound) suddenly sprang up and took to his heels. As he 
 ran, an Irish boy who held Lane's petronel (a hand-gun or 
 large pistol) wounded him again, but he disappeared into the 
 forest, pursued by an Irishman named Edward Nugent. Lane 
 and some of his men soon followed, and met Nugent coming 
 out of the wilderness with the King's head in his hand. Thus 
 were the settlers freed from their bitterest and most formid- 
 able enemy, and for some time thereafter they were little 
 troubled by unfriendly savages. 
 
 During their entire stay on the island of Eoanoke and in 
 its vicinity, the colonists were industriously engaged. They 
 shot game, caught fish, and planted corn in proper season, all 
 the while keeping armed watch against the approach of un- 
 friendly Indians. Nor were their old enemies the Spaniards 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 21 
 
 out of mind, as they had no assurance that these would not 
 pay them an unfriendly visit by water. 
 
 In the Roanoke company of colonists was a courageous 
 captain, Edward Stafford by name, of whom Lane says: "I 
 must truly report of him, from the first to the last, he was 
 the gentleman that never spared labor or peril, either by land 
 or water, fair weather or foul, to perform any service com- 
 mitted unto him." This officer was sent with a well-manned 
 boat to the vicinity of an inlet, with instructions to be on the 
 watch for any ships which might be sent from England. On 
 June 1, 1586, Stafford sent a messenger to Lane with the 
 information that he had sighted a great fleet of twenty-three 
 sail ; but, as he could not make out whether they were friends 
 or foes, all should be on their guard. Great was the joy of 
 the colonists when the commander of this formidable fleet 
 turned out to be the renowned Admiral Sir Francis Drake, 
 circumnavigator of the world, whose daring warfare against 
 the Spaniards had been the wonder of all Europe, and who 
 was to gain a fame still greater two years thereafter by his 
 share in destroying the "Invincible Armada" of King Philip. 
 Like a true patriot, Drake placed the resources of his well 
 manned and thoroughly equipped fleet at the disposal of the 
 colonists on Roanoke Island. A bark, pinnaces, canoes, muni- 
 tions of war, food, clothing, and all else needful, were offered 
 them, with a sufficient complement of seamen to man such 
 craft as should be left for their use. In accepting this gener- 
 ous proffer, Lane requested Drake to receive on his fleet and 
 take to England all men whose health had suffered during 
 their stay in America, and to replace them with capable sea- 
 men and skilled artisans. The admiral was also requested 
 to leave a ship to convey the colonists back to England two 
 months thereafter, in August, if a promised relief expedition 
 under Grenville's command should not be sent to them by 
 their patron Sir Walter Raleigh. With the advice of his 
 
22 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 captains, Drake decided to leave the Francis, a brig of seventy 
 tons, and to put provisions on board in sufficient quantities 
 to supply a hundred men for four months. Two pinnaces and 
 four smaller boats were also to be left, with Captains Abra- 
 ham Kendall and Griffith Heme to direct navigation. While 
 these preparations were in progress a great storm arose and 
 continued for some days. All vessels in the fleet, including 
 the Francis, were driven out to sea many miles; but Drake 
 returned with a much larger bark, the Bonner, of one hun- 
 dred and seventy tons, and tendered her to Lane in place of 
 the Francis, with like conditions and equipment. Wishing 
 to have the advice of his officers in the determination of a 
 matter so important, Lane called a council and it was the 
 opinion of all that "the very hand of God seemed stretched 
 out to take them from hence," for the relief expedition 
 under Sir Eichard Grenville had been promised them 
 before Easter, and that season was long passed. England, 
 it was believed by those at Roanoke, had so much to occupy 
 her armies and fleets against traitors at home and enemies 
 abroad, that the needed help could not be sent across the 
 water, so all the colonists decided to return at once in the 
 English fleet. Drake thereupon sent up pinnaces to bring 
 off their belongings, among which were valuable maps and 
 charts of the country. These latter, unfortunately, were 
 washed overboard and lost while the men were endeavoring 
 to place them aboard ship. The colonists themselves, how- 
 ever, got safely on board, and Drake "in the name of the 
 Almighty, weighed his anchors" on the 19th of June, 1586, 
 arriving in the English harbor of Plymouth on the 27th of 
 July. 
 
 Though delayed by many vexatious circumstances beyond 
 his control Sir Walter Raleigh had not been unmindful of 
 the welfare of the colonists left at Roanoke, and sent (but 
 too late) a well-provisioned ship for their relief. This ves- 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 23 
 
 sel arrived not long after Lane and his men had departed 
 in Drake's fleet. Finding the former settlement abandoned, 
 the relief ship returned to England, but not in time to com- 
 municate the discouraging news to another expedition of three 
 ships sailing by Raleigh's orders under the command of Sir 
 Richard Grenville. Finding none of his countrymen at 
 Roanoke, but unwilling to abandon England's claim to the 
 land, Grenville left fifteen of his men to hold possession 
 of the island, and returned to England with his ships. 
 
 In the next year, 1587, Raleigh perfected plans for another 
 attempt at colonizing Roanoke, and wisely came to a realiza- 
 tion of the fact that no colony could be made permanent with- 
 out the presence of women. He therefore issued a charter or 
 commission constituting John White as Governor, with twelve 
 councilors, under the corporate name of a The Governor and 
 Assistants of the city of Raleigh in Virginia." Ninety-one 
 men, seventeen women, and nine boys made up the company. 
 Two more, Virginia Dare and another baby named Harvie, 
 were born after the arrival in America, making one hundred 
 and twenty-one white persons in all.* In this expedition 
 was the faithful Manteo, who had again visited England, and 
 now returned to his native wilds with the whites. With him 
 was another friendly Indian, named Towaye. 
 
 The three ships bearing the colonists of 1587, sailed out 
 of Portsmouth, England, on the 26th of April, and arrived 
 at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, the same date, tarrying in 
 the latter place for eight days. Leaving Cowes, they reached 
 Plymouth on the 5th of May ; and, on the 8th of the same 
 month, began their westward journey. On the 16th of May, 
 Simon Ferdinando, the pilot, to whose former base conduct 
 I have already alluded, abandoned the fly-boat in the Bay of 
 Portugal, rejoined the fleet, and remained to practice more 
 treachery later on. The captain (Edward Spicer) and the 
 
 *For list of colonists under White, see Hakluyt (1810 edition;, Vol. Ill, p. 348. 
 
24 SIR WALTER EALEIGH. 
 
 daring crew of this fly-boat were not so helpless as the pilot 
 supposed they would be. They immediately set sail in their 
 little craft and safely crossed the Atlantic, rejoining their 
 comrades at Roanoke. 
 
 Sailing as before stated, the fleet with the colonists under 
 Governor White passed through the West Indies, stopping at 
 various islands there for drinking water, salt, game, and other 
 supplies, and started northward from Hispaniola about the 
 6th of July, arriving ten days later at Cape Fear, where the 
 traitor Ferdinando came near causing another wreck, his 
 design being thwarted by the vigilance of Captain Edward 
 Stafford, of whose courage and good conduct in the previous 
 expedition under Lane, I have already spoken. On July 
 22d, Hatorask (Hatteras) Inlet was reached, and there the 
 large ships anchored. Governor White manned a pinnance 
 with forty of his best men and started for Roanoke Island, 
 where he hoped to find the fifteen men left by Grenville in 
 1586, the preceding year. None of these fifteen could be 
 found, but the bones of one (who had been murdered by the 
 savages) were discovered. It later was learned that all had 
 been treacherously slain, except some who escaped in a small 
 boat and were probably lost. 
 
 The day after his arrival at Roanoke, Governor White and 
 a strong body of his men walked to the north end of the 
 island, where the "city of Raleigh" had stood. They found 
 the fort destroyed, but many of the small dwelling houses 
 were in fair condition, and the party immediately set to work 
 repairing these huts. On the 28th of July, George Howe, 
 one of the colonists, was shot and killed by some Indians 
 who were the remnants of Wingina's tribe, with whom was 
 Wanchese. On the 30th of the same month, Captain Staf- 
 ford took a party, with Manteo as guide and interpreter, and 
 met the Indians on August 1st, offering to make peace with 
 them, forgetting all past differences. The savages promised 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 25 
 
 that their chiefs would come in for a conference on this sub- 
 ject and give their answer in the course of the next seven 
 days. Nothing being heard in that time, Governor White 
 and Captain Stafford headed a party of colonists which at- 
 tacked an Indian encampment and wounded one or more 
 before it was discovered that they had fired upon a friendly 
 tribe from Croatan. The account of this transaction says: 
 "Although the mistaking of these savages somewhat grieved 
 Manteo, yet he imputed their harm to their own folly, saying 
 to them that if their weroances [chiefs] had kept their prom- 
 ise in coming to the Governor at the day appointed, they 
 had not known that mischance." 
 
 Both in America and England instructions in the principles 
 of the Christian religion had been imparted to Manteo, the 
 never-failing friend of the whites; and, before the colonists 
 left England, Sir Walter Raleigh had expressly commanded 
 that this Indian should be baptized as soon as practicable 
 after arrival in his old home on Roanoke. It was probably 
 decided that this ceremony should take place in America in 
 order that the example might have the effect of causing other 
 Indians to embrace Christianity. Manteo was accordingly 
 baptized on Roanoke Island on the 13th of August, at the 
 same time being (by Raleigh's orders) created Lord of Roan- 
 oke and of Dasamonguepeuk, as a reward for his faithful 
 service. This was the first administration of the sacrament 
 of baptism, according to the rites of the Church of England 
 which ever took place within the limits of the present United 
 States. Five days later, on the 18th, a daughter was born 
 to Ananias and Eleanor Dare, this little girl's mother being 
 a daughter of Governor White. As she was the first child 
 born in the new country, she was called Virginia, by which 
 name she was baptized on the first Sunday after her birth. 
 
 During the latter half of August it was determined to send 
 back to England for further supplies, but great difficulty was 
 
26 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 experienced in securing the services of any officer to under- 
 take the mission. All the colonists finally united in a re- 
 quest that Governor White himself should go. This request 
 was at first refused, White saying that his return would be 
 looked upon by the public in England as a desertion of those 
 whom he had persuaded to undertake the voyage to America, 
 and would consequently bring great discredit upon his name. 
 He also had misgivings about his personal belongings, which 
 he feared might be lost when the colonists moved further in- 
 land, as it was their intention to do later on. The colonists 
 then grew even more importunate, and White finally con- 
 sented, with much reluctance, after being given a signed cer- 
 tificate wherewith to justify his course in departing from 
 the colony which he had been sent to govern. He accordingly 
 set sail with one ship and a fly-boat on the 27th of August, 
 1587. At the outset of this return voyage, quite a number 
 of the fly-boat's crew were disabled by the breaking of a 
 capstan. Later the two crafts separated, as the larger one 
 (with the marplot Ferdinando on board) wished to trade at 
 the island of Tercera. White would not delay, but proceeded 
 in the fly-boat. All on board came near perishing for lack 
 of drinking water, and the boat lost its course in consequence 
 of foul weather. Finally those on the boat sighted a port, 
 which turned out to be the Irish town of Smerwirk (the 
 scene of Raleigh's bloody work in 1580), and there the crew 
 gained much needed help. From Smerwick the boat pro- 
 ceeded to Dingen, five miles distant. There the boatswain, 
 the boatswain's mate, and the steward died on board, and 
 the master's mate and two other sick sailors were taken 
 ashore. On November 1st, Governor White took shipping 
 for England on another boat, and arrived in due time at a 
 port in Cornwall. 
 
 In April, 1588, Governor White made a futile attempt 
 to return with supplies for the relief of Raleigh's colonists 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 27 
 
 who had been left on Roanoke Island. The failure of this 
 attempt was due to the fact that the English went out of their 
 way in an attempt to secure Spanish prizes, were beaten in 
 a sea-fight which ensued, and finally were forced to return 
 for repairs. A few weeks later the great Spanish Armada 
 came. Then all the ships and seamen in England were 
 needed for purposes of national defense. Two more years 
 elapsed before White had another opportunity to return to 
 America, even then going as a passenger on a ship whose 
 first object was trading with or fighting against Spaniards in 
 the West Indies, after which it was to sail northward and see 
 if any of the colonists could be found on or around Roanoke 
 Island. The narrative of his experiences on shipboard, 
 during this voyage, White communicated to Richard Hak- 
 luyt, dating his letter of transmittal at "my house at Newtown 
 in Kilmore, the 4th of February, 1593," which was several 
 years after his return. The small fleet of three ships, in 
 which he took passage, sailed out of Plymouth on the 20th 
 of March, 1590. They cruised in the vicinity of Spain and 
 on the north coast of Africa for a few weeks and then set 
 sail for the West Indies. On May 7th, fresh water was se- 
 cured on the island of St. John, in the West Indies, and a 
 large Spanish prize was taken on the next day. Then fol- 
 lowed numerous sea-fights, and pillaging by land, in the terri- 
 tory of the Spaniards. On July 2d, White's old friend Cap- 
 tain Edward Spicer, joined the fleet at Cape Tyburon, after 
 a long voyage from England. We also find mention of Cap- 
 tain Lane, who was probably Ralph Lane, former Governor 
 of Roanoke. On the 13th of July the coast of Florida came 
 into view, and on August 3d the fleet sighted what is now 
 the coast of North Carolina, but was forced out to sea in a 
 storm, to avoid ship-wreck on the banks. Later the inland 
 waters were entered, and, on the 15th. Roanoke Island was 
 in close view. From this island was seen to arise a column 
 
28 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 of smoke, which raised hopes that the colonists were still in 
 the vicinity of the locality where they had been left. A dili- 
 gent search for them proved fruitless. On the 16th of August, 
 White went ashore, accompanied by Captains Spicer and 
 Cooke, with a sufficient armed escort. Orders were left with 
 the master-gunner on shipboard to have shots fired, at stated 
 intervals, from two minions and a falcon (small pieces of 
 ordnance) to attract the attention of any English who might 
 be in the neighborhood; but reverberating echoes were the 
 only answer. On going ashore in the direction of another 
 column of smoke, the fire was located, but no human being — 
 white man or Indian — was found near it. The party, being 
 much fatigued, camped on the island for the night, but later 
 returned to the ships. 
 
 On the 17th of August, the greatest catastrophe of the 
 voyage occurred when a boat containing eleven men capsized 
 in trying to enter an inlet, and seven were drowned. Those 
 lost were the gallant Captain Spicer, to whose daring at sea 
 I have alluded more than once, also Master's-Mate Ralph 
 Skinner, Surgeon Hance, Edward Kelley, Thomas Bevis, Ed- 
 ward Kelborne, and Robert Coleman. The remaining four 
 were saved by the heroic efforts of Captain Cooke and four 
 stout seamen who rowed to their rescue. The sailors were 
 much disheartened by this deplorable accident, but Governor 
 White and Captain Cooke prevailed on them to proceed with 
 an exploration of the vicinity which they wished to make. 
 Before Roanoke Island was again reached, dark had settled, 
 and another great fire was seen in the woods. White's nar- 
 rative of the voyage says : "When we came right over against 
 it, we let fall our grapnel near the shore and sounded with 
 a trumpet a call, and afterwards many English tunes of 
 songs, and called to them friendly, but we had no answer. 
 We therefore landed at daybreak; and, coming to the fire, 
 we found the grass and sundry rotten trees burning about 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 29 
 
 the place." White and his companions went through the 
 woods for a considerable distance, and then sailed around 
 the island until they reached the point where the colony had 
 been left in 1587. Upon the departure of White for Eng- 
 land in 1587, it had been agreed that if the colonists re- 
 moved, they should cut on trees and posts the name of the 
 locality to which they had gone, and a cross should be cut 
 over the name if they were distressed. Upon one tree were 
 found the letters C K O, and C B, O A T O A N was cut on an- 
 other, but both were without the sign of distress agreed upon. 
 Of the further investigation White says: "We entered into 
 the palisado, where we found many bars of iron, two pigs 
 of lead, four iron fowlers, iron sacker shot, and such like 
 heavy things, thrown here and there, almost overgrown with 
 grass and weeds. From thence we went along the waterside 
 toward the point of the creek, to see if we could find any of 
 their boats or pinnace, but we could perceive no sign 
 of them, nor any of the falcons or small ordnance which were 
 left with them at my departure from them. At our return 
 from the creek, some of our sailors, meeting us, told us they 
 had found where divers chests had been hidden, and long 
 since digged up again and broken up, and much of the goods 
 in them spoiled and scattered about, but nothing left, of such 
 things as the savages knew any use of, undefaced. Presently 
 Captain Cooke and I went to the place, which was in the end 
 of an old trench, made two [sic~\ years past by Captain 
 Amadas, where we found five chests that had been carefully 
 hidden of the planters, and of the same chests three were my 
 own, and about the place many of my things spoiled and 
 broken, and my books torn from the covers, the frames of 
 some of my pictures and maps rotten and spoiled with rain, 
 and my armor almost eaten through with rust. This could 
 be no other than the deed of the savages, our enemies at 
 Dasamonguepeuk, who had watched the departure of our 
 
30 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 men to Croatoan, and, as soon as they were departed, digged 
 up every place where they suspected anything to be buried. 
 But although it much grieved me to see such spoil of my 
 goods, yet on the other side I greatly joyed that I had safely 
 found a certain token of their safe being at Croatoan, which 
 is the place where Manteo was born, and the savages of the 
 island our friends." 
 
 Returning from the scene of desolation at the old fort, 
 White, Cooke, and the remainder of their party regained 
 their ships, and then determined to proceed to Croatan. After 
 losing several anchors in a storm and suffering other mishaps, 
 however, it was determined to go to the West Indies for re- 
 pairs, spend the Winter there, and return in the Spring to 
 the vicinity of Roanoke for a further search. The captain 
 of one vessel, the Moonlight, objected to this plan, as his ship 
 was in bad shape generally and needed supplies, so he forth- 
 with sailed for England. The remaining vessels pursued 
 their course to the West Indies, took several Spanish prizes, 
 and later joined a large fleet of warships under the command 
 of Admiral Sir John Hawkins. This admiral was watching 
 for a Spanish fleet which was known to be in the West Indies ; 
 but, by the counsel of his officers, he later decided that his 
 ships should "spread themselves on the coast of Spain and 
 Portugal, so far as conveniently they might, for the sure 
 meeting of the Spanish fleet in those parts." In this last 
 mentioned plan the ship on which White sailed did not join, 
 as its captain determined to return to England. Leave was 
 accordingly taken of the redoubtable Hawkins on Sunday, 
 the 13th of September, and White reached Plymouth, in 
 England, on the 24th of October. 
 
 The fate of the colonists left on Roanoke Island in 1587 
 is one of the unsolved mysteries of the ages. Some believe 
 they were massacred. Others contend that, when all hope 
 for help had been abandoned, they became absorbed into the 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 31 
 
 tribe of Croatan Indians, whose friendship for the whites 
 had been so often manifested. Mr. Hamilton McMillan and 
 Dr. Stephen B. Weeks have written monographs in support 
 of this contention, while Bishop Cheshire and others have 
 vigorously argued the contrary. As a single word, cut on a 
 tree, was the only message found, I shall not endeavor to 
 discuss the conflicting theories. In the words of Mrs. Mar- 
 garet J. Preston, a Virginia poetess: 
 
 "The mystery rests a mystery still, 
 Unsolved of mortal man; 
 Sphinx-like, untold, the ages hold 
 The tale of CRO-A-TAN." 
 
 Some writers have ignorantly charged that Raleigh heart- 
 lessly abandoned the Lost Colony of 1587, and made no effort 
 to discover and rescue its members. This is far from true. 
 One old nautical historian, Samuel Purchas, while referring 
 to the year 1602, says that Raleigh then sent Captain Samuel 
 Mace, who had been to Virginia twice before, on another 
 voyage to hunt for the Lost Colony "to whose succor he had 
 sent five several times at his own charges." By the time Mace 
 returned from this voyage, Raleigh had been attainted as a 
 traitor, his estates had been confiscated, and he could do no 
 more. 
 
 As every one knows, Raleigh's explorers brought back with 
 them an edible tuber, theretofore unknown to Europeans, 
 called the potato. Raleigh experimented with it on his estates 
 in Ireland with so much success that it became the chief food- 
 stuff of that country and is generally called the Irish Potato 
 after the land to which it was transplanted. Thus an im- 
 portation by Raleigh, who had often wasted Ireland with 
 the fire and sword, has often been the salvation of that country 
 when other food crops have failed. Tobacco, too, was brought 
 from the New World, and Raleigh was joined by his friends 
 in acquiring its use by puffing it from small silver bowls. 
 
32 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 We have all heard the story of how Sir Walter's first smoke 
 was interrupted by an alarmed servant who dashed a cup of 
 spiced ale in his face to extinguish the fire. 
 
 Art and archeology in our day are also debtors to the 
 Roanoke colonists, for Governor White was a talented artist, 
 who not only made maps of the new land but also water- 
 color drawings of the natives. His paintings of the Indians 
 are still preserved in the British Museum. At the time of 
 the Jamestown Exposition, in 1907, Colonel Bennehan 
 Cameron, of this State, employed a competent artist to make 
 copies of these paintings for the use of the North Carolina 
 Historical Exhibit; and, after the close of the Exposition, 
 he presented them to the North Carolina Hall of History 
 in the city of Baleigh, where they may still be seen. 
 
 And now, as Raleigh bade farewell to his cherished hopes 
 of colonization on this spot, we must say farewell to the sad 
 story of its failure. The prosecution of these noble but un- 
 successful designs cost an immense sum, and not a few lives. 
 I have already told how seven men were drowned by the cap- 
 sizing of a pinnace ; and others, who are known to have sought 
 safety in small boats amid the horrors of Indian warfare, 
 were doubtless lost at sea. These sad circumstances lend a 
 touch of reality to the beautiful poem Hatteras, by the late 
 Joseph W. Holden, of Raleigh, wherein a skull cast up on 
 Cape Hatteras is supposed to voice its tale of the past and 
 warning to the present in these lines : 
 
 "When life was young, adventure sweet, 
 I came with Walter Raleigh's fleet, 
 But here my scattered bones have lain 
 And bleached for ages by the main! 
 Though lonely once, strange folks have come, 
 Till peopled is my barren home; 
 Enough are here: oh, heed the cry, 
 Ye white-winged strangers sailing by! 
 The bark that lingers on this wave 
 Will find its smiling but a grave!" 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 33 
 
 It was in 1588 that all true Englishmen flew to arms at 
 news of the coming of the great fleet which the Spaniards 
 in their pride called the "Invincible Armada." On sea and 
 land every available man was mustered into the service of 
 the realm which was so much imperiled. The lion-hearted 
 Queen herself, though no longer young, laid aside womanly 
 apparel and rode through the great camp at Tilbury in a 
 full suit of armor, encouraging her people in a speech filled 
 with expressions of confidence in their fidelity and valor. 
 In the course of her address she said : "We have been per- 
 suaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed 
 how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of 
 treachery ; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust 
 my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear; I have 
 always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my 
 chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good 
 will of my subjects, and therefore I am come among you, 
 as you see at this time, hot for my recreation and disport, 
 but being resolved, in the midst and heat of battle, to live 
 or die amongst you all." 
 
 In the defense of England against the Spanish Armada 
 it is needless to say that Raleigh played the part of a loyal 
 subject and true man. When a council of nine was formed 
 to consider the state of national fortifications and defenses, 
 Raleigh sat in that body, being styled "Lieutenant-General 
 of Cornwall." The only member of this council below the 
 rank of knighthood was Ralph Lane, former Governor of 
 Roanoke, and he was later knighted in recognition of his 
 many services to the kingdom at home and abroad. In both 
 England and Ireland, Raleigh was active in disciplining the 
 levies raised to defend the realm against the Armada ; and, 
 when it became apparent that no fighting was soon to be done 
 on land, he relinquished his army commands and betook 
 3 
 
34 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 himself to the channel, there aiding materially, as captain 
 of a ship, in the destruction of the Spanish war vessels. 
 
 In March, 1589, after having spent more than forty thou- 
 sand pounds in his attempt to plant colonies in "Virginia," 
 with no financial returns for the outlay, Kaleigh, as Chief 
 Governor, sold his rights to trade (though not his patent) in 
 that locality to a corporation or company composed of Thomas 
 Smith, John White, Richard Hakluyt, and others. 
 
 In 1589, as a retaliation for the Armada, the English 
 fitted up a fleet for the purpose of restoring Don Antonio 
 to the throne of Portugal, and thereby weakening Spanish 
 influence in that kingdom. Six warships and one hundred 
 and twenty volunteer vessels, under Sir Francis Drake and 
 Sir John Norris, went on this expedition. With them sailed 
 Raleigh in a ship of his own. The English burned Vigo, 
 destroyed two hundred vessels in the Tagus River (many 
 of them containing stores for a new invasion of England), 
 and attacked Lisbon. Aside from the capture of valuable 
 spoils little else was accomplished. 
 
 In 1592, Philip of Spain was believed to be fostering fur- 
 ther hostile designs upon England, and Elizabeth decided 
 to divert his attack by sending a fleet against the Spanish 
 possessions in Panama. Raleigh was placed in command 
 of the English fleet. On May 6th, he set sail, but on the 
 next day he was overtaken in a swift-sailing boat by Sir 
 Martin Erobisher, with the Queen's peremptory order to re- 
 turn to England and to leave his fleet under the joint com- 
 mand of Frobisher and Sir John Burgh. Raleigh remained 
 with the fleet long enough to give particular directions to 
 his two successors in command and then sailed back to Eng- 
 land, much puzzled to know the reason of his recall. He 
 was not left long in doubt. Court gossip, connecting his 
 name with that of a maid of honor, Elizabeth Throckmorton, 
 had come to the ears of the Queen and she promptly sent the 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 35 
 
 accused courtier to the Tower of London. A letter written 
 at the time says of Kaleigh and Miss Throckmorton : "It is 
 affirmed that they are married, but the Queen is most furi- 
 ously incensed." The exact date when Raleigh's marriage 
 to Miss Throckmorton took place does not appear, but the 
 Queen later needed his services and ordered his release, 
 though it took him a long time to regain the favor of his 
 royal mistress. As for his wife, she became his heroic and 
 devoted friend and companion throughout the remainder of 
 his life, in adversity and prosperity alike, never ceasing her 
 labors in his behalf until his head rolled from the block in 
 1618. She was a daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, 
 then deceased, a former councilor at the court of Elizabeth. 
 Lady Raleigh is described as tall, slender, blue-eyed, and 
 golden-haired. 
 
 As England was not an absolute monarchy even in the 
 days of Elizabeth, and as Raleigh had been committed to the 
 Tower without due process of law, he might possibly have 
 secured an earlier release through legal means, but chose a 
 more unique method, by writing a letter to Robert Cecil, 
 trusting that it would come to the eye of the Queen. As the 
 Queen was going away from the vicinity of the Tower for a 
 short season, her imprisoned courtier sent forth a lamentation 
 in these words: "My heart was never broken till this day 
 that I hear the Queen goes away so far off — whom I have 
 followed so many years with so great love and desire, in so 
 many journeys, and am now left behind her in a dark prison 
 all alone. While she was yet nigher at hand, that I might 
 hear of her once in two or three days, my sorrows were the 
 less; but even now my heart is cast into the depth of all 
 misery. I that was wont to behold her riding like Alexander, 
 hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle wind 
 blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks like a nymph; 
 sometimes sitting in the shade like a Goddess; sometimes 
 
36 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 singing like an angel ; sometimes playing like Orpheus. Be- 
 hold the sorrow of this world! Once amiss hath bereaved 
 me of all! Oh Glory, that shineth in misfortune, what is 
 become of thy assurance ? * * * She is gone in whom 
 I trusted, and of me hath not one thought of mercy." When 
 we reflect that the Queen, at the time this letter was written, 
 was in her sixtieth year, gray-haired, wrinkled, and ugly as 
 the proverbial home-made sin, we are almost tempted to doubt 
 Sir Walter's sincerity in painting her as a beautiful fairy 
 princess with all the entrancing attributes of heavenly angels, 
 heathen deities, and earthly heroes. Raleigh's imprisonment 
 in the Tower was not rigorous. He was in the custody of 
 his cousin, Sir George Carew, Master of Ordnance in that 
 strong-hold, and the Queen had given orders that his friends 
 should have free access to him, while servants attended his 
 every want. Even his offices were not taken away from him, 
 and he discharged his duties by deputies. On one occasion 
 when it came to his ear that the Queen would soon pass down 
 the Thames in her barge, he asked Carew to let him be dis- 
 guised as a boatman and go near the barge under guard, that 
 he might feast his eyes on the royal object of his adoration 
 once more. The request was of course refused, whereupon 
 Raleigh became frantic and attacked his keeper in seeming 
 desperation, though no further harm was done than the in- 
 jury of his Cousin George's new periwig. 
 
 There is a homely old saying that "fair words butter no 
 parsnips," and Raleigh soon discovered that they were equally 
 powerless to unlock the gates of the Tower of London. But 
 his release came in September. In that month Frobisher 
 and Burgh returned to Plymouth with the fleet of which he 
 was still the titular "General" or Admiral, and with them 
 brought many valuable spoils taken from the Spaniards, so 
 the services of Raleigh were needed in making partition be- 
 tween the Queen and those who financed the voyage. Among 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 37 
 
 the latter was Admiral Sir John Hawkins, who had 
 urged that Raleigh should be sent. He accordingly went 
 to Plymouth under guard. Though one of Raleigh's con- 
 temporaries had described him as "the best hated man 
 of the world in court, city, and country/' his reception at 
 Plymouth did not seem to indicate it. Referring to his ar- 
 rival there, Robert Cecil wrote: "I assure you, sir, his 
 poor servants, to the number of one hundred and forty goodly 
 men, and all the mariners, came to him with shouts of joy. 
 I never saw a man more troubled to quiet them. But. his 
 heart is broken, as he is extremely pensive, unless he is 
 busied, in which he can toil terribly. The meeting between 
 him and Sir John Gilbert was with tears on Sir John's part. 
 But he, finding it known that he has a keeper, whenever he 
 is saluted with congratulations for liberty, doth answer, 'No, 
 I am still the Queen of England's poor captive.' I wished 
 him to conceal it, because here it doth diminish his credit, 
 which I do vow to you before God is greater among the mari- 
 ners than I thought for." Finally the Queen's anger sim- 
 mered down, and Raleigh was relieved from his nominal 
 captivity. 
 
 In 1594 Raleigh secured a charter from Queen Elizabeth 
 for his first expedition to Guiana, on the northern coast of 
 South America. As a preliminary he sent one of his most 
 experienced officers, Captain Jacob Whiddon to spy out the 
 route and report his findings. Upon Whiddon's return, Ra- 
 leigh's expedition sailed in 1595. With him were his nephew, 
 John Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey, and Captain Laurence 
 Keymis, On the voyage to South America the forces of Ra- 
 leigh captured and burned the town of St. Joseph on the 
 island of Trinidad. On the continent of South America the 
 explorers penetrated far inland, up the Orinoco River, 
 and enjoyed most friendly relations with the natives, who 
 had suffered much from Spanish cruelty and were conse- 
 
38 SIK WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 quently willing to render all aid and assistance to the Eng- 
 lish upon learning that they were enemies of Spain. Much 
 time was spent in explorations by Raleigh before he left the 
 continent. It was his hope to sail northward for the purpose 
 of making a personal attempt to find and relieve his settlers 
 here on Roanoke, but he was prevented by storms and other 
 circumstances. While in South America he collected much 
 ore, as samples, though he did not engage in mining on a 
 large scale. On his return voyage the Spanish towns of 
 Cumana, Santa Maria, and Rio de la Hacha refused to 
 furnish his fleet with supplies, and were sacked and burned 
 in consequence. Before Raleigh left England his enemies 
 had prophesied that he would never return, but would enter 
 the service of Spain. This absurd charge was disproved by 
 his return, and then those same enemies sought to discredit 
 his account of discoveries, especially of precious ores. Some 
 modern historians — Hume and others — have branded Ra- 
 leigh's narrative as a collection of lies, but recent discoveries 
 of rich gold fields in Venezuela (a part of Raleigh's Guiana) 
 have partly or wholly justified his statements. In 1596, in 
 fulfillment of a promise to the Indians to return to Guiana, 
 Raleigh sent Captain Keymis with the ships Darling and 
 Discovery, laden with presents for the Indians. In the mean- 
 time San Thome, in Guiana, had been heavily fortified by the 
 Spaniards, so Keymis avoided that town and went towards 
 the mines by another route. Later he returned to England, 
 bringing with him little more than samples of gold ore. Thus 
 ended Raleigh's earlier expeditions to Guiana — ventures to 
 be resumed near his life's end, as I shall relate hereafter. 
 
 When rumors of the coming of the Spanish Armada of 
 1588 first reached England, Raleigh had boldly volunteered 
 for an expedition to sail into the Spanish harbors and burn 
 the ships of King Philip while they were being fitted up. 
 This advice was rejected as the dream of a desperate vision- 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 39 
 
 ary. Eight years later, however, in 1596, when news came 
 that the indefatigable Philip was building another fleet (sixty 
 ships) for an invasion of Ireland, where he hoped for many 
 allies, Raleigh again urged Elizabeth to strike the first blow, 
 and this time his advice was followed. The result was a 
 brilliant success. With the English fleet of ninety-six sail, 
 went twenty-four Dutch ships, making one hundred and 
 twenty vessels in all. On these ships were fourteen thousand 
 English and twenty-six hundred Dutch troops. Lord Ad- 
 miral Howard and the Earl of Essex were in joint command. 
 This fleet divided itself into four squadrons, one of which 
 was commanded by Raleigh, under whom were thirteen hun- 
 dred and fifty-two sailors and eighteen hundred and seventy- 
 five soldiers. The fleet sailed out of Plymouth on June 1; 
 1596, and, on the 20th of the same month anchored within 
 half a league of Cadiz. In the attack on that city the fol- 
 lowing day, Raleigh led the van in a vessel called the War- 
 spright, with a crew of two hundred and ninety men. As 
 the Warspright advanced, followed by five other English 
 ships, four huge galleons appeared, bearing the usual saintly 
 names of those Children of the Devil," the Spaniards. They 
 were the St. Philip, the St. Matthew, the St. Andrew, and 
 the St. Thomas— "those Apostles aforesaid," as Raleigh after- 
 wards called them. All of these galleons moored under the 
 guns of Fort Puntal, with three galleys about each; and 
 then the batteries on sea and land opened a furious can- 
 nonading on the invaders. The largest Spanish ships were 
 the St. Philip and the St. Andrew, which had been with the 
 fleet of fifty-three which sank the ship Revenge and killed its 
 commander Sir Richard Grenville, Raleigh's kinsman. Ra- 
 leigh now vowed that he would be "revenged for the Revenge 
 or second her with his own life." This was no idle boast. 
 Though the Warspright was nearly sunk, the ships of the 
 other English commanders came rushing to her assistance, 
 
40 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 and two got the start of her, but Raleigh was unwilling to 
 relinquish his perilous post of honor, so he again succeeded 
 in running ahead and blocked further advance by laying his 
 ship athwart the channel in order, as he said, that "none 
 other should outstart him that day." He and his crew next 
 grappled the St. Philip, and were soon reinforced by the other 
 English vessels, when a wild panic seized the Spaniards, who 
 ran their galleons aground and attempted to burn them, but 
 the English were too quick for this and captured all but the 
 St. Philip and the St. Thomas which were blown up by their 
 captains. The English spared the lives of their captives, 
 but the Dutch partly paid off their score for Alva's cruelties 
 by mercilessly butchering prisoners until the forces of the 
 Lord Admiral and Ealeigh beat them off. These Flemings, 
 Raleigh declared, contributed little or nothing to the winning 
 of the victory. Toward the close of the sea-fight, Raleigh 
 was badly wounded in the leg, but had himself borne ashore 
 on the shoulders of his men when the land forces disembarked. 
 After landing, the troops, under the chief command of Essex, 
 first swept eight hundred Spanish horsemen from their path, 
 and then captured all the fortifications of the city except the 
 castle; and that, too, surrendered on the next day. Spoils 
 of the town and ransoms for wealthy prisoners were the re- 
 wards of the victors. Said Raleigh: "We stayed not to 
 pick any lock, but brake open the doors; and, having rifled 
 all, threw the key into the fire." The "key" here alluded 
 to was the city of Cadiz, which had been described as 
 one of the three keys of the kingdom of Spain. Other locali- 
 ties around Cadiz were also sacked and burned, and the vic- 
 torious expedition finally returned to England, Raleigh ar- 
 riving there ahead of the rest on August 6th. 
 
 Raleigh's splendid services at Cadiz restored him in a 
 large measure to the good graces of Queen Elizabeth, and 
 
SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 41 
 
 he once more became an inmate of her Court, where there 
 was a bitter rivalry between himself and Essex. 
 
 So happy were the English over their victories in Spain 
 that, in 1597, they organized a campaign against Spanish 
 possessions in the West Indies. This expedition by sea is 
 known as the "Islands Voyage." Time will not allow me 
 to go into its full details. In the course of the cruise, Raleigh 
 landed without orders and stormed the strongholds of the 
 island of Fayal, thereby kindling anew the jealousy of his 
 chief commander, the Earl of Essex, who arrived too late 
 to share the honors of the day. Numerous rich ships of the 
 Spaniards also fell a prey to the English on this voyage. 
 
 I can not here tell in full the story of the feud between 
 Raleigh and Essex, but it was bitter and lasting. Though 
 Raleigh was at his post, as Captain of the Guard, when the 
 fallen Earl was in later years led to the block, he withdrew 
 before the final stroke for fear it should be charged that he 
 gloated over the execution. In later years, when it was 
 charged that he had a hand in the destruction of his former 
 rival, he said : "It is true that I was of an opposite faction, 
 but I take God to witness that I had no hand in his death. 
 * * * My soul hath many times been grieved that I was 
 not nearer to him when he died, as I understood afterwards 
 that he asked for me, desiring to be reconciled." 
 
 In 1600, Raleigh was advanced to the important post of 
 Governor of the Isle of Jersey, and greatly improved the 
 conditions of that locality by his administration of its affairs. 
 
 The great Queen Elizabeth died in the early Spring of 
 1603, and gave place to the cowardly descendant of a warlike 
 race of Scottish monarchs, King James the First of England 
 and Sixth of Scotland. Before the arrival of James in 
 London, his mind had been poisoned against Raleigh by the 
 latter's enemies, and he was not long in stripping Elizabeth's 
 former favorite of all the honors held by him. In a short 
 
42 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 time Raleigh was deprived of his posts as Captain of the 
 Guard and Governor of Jersey, likewise being shorn of the 
 monopolies and special privileges conferred by the late Queen. 
 He was also ejected from Durham House (an episcopal resi- 
 dence) and Sherborne Castle upon which he held long leases. 
 If he could now conveniently be proved a traitor, the efforts 
 for his destruction would be crowned with complete success. 
 Finally that opportunity presented itself when Lord Cobham 
 became involved in a conspiracy to seat Lady Arabella Stuart 
 on the throne of England. In an effort to save his own life, 
 Cobham had accused Raleigh; later the conscience-stricken 
 nobleman retracted his charge; afterwards renewed it, with 
 more retractions later, and this was the farcical evidence 
 upon which Raleigh was convicted. In much bitterness of 
 spirit he wrote his wife: "All my services, hazards, and 
 expenses for my country — plantings, discoveries, fights, coun- 
 cils, and whatever else — malice hath now covered over. I 
 am now made an enemy and a traitor by the word of an un- 
 worthy man." 
 
 On September 21, 1603, Raleigh was indicted for having 
 conspired to deprive the King of his Crown, to alter the true 
 religion, and to levy war. The trial was begun in Winchester 
 on November 17th, Lord Chief Justice Popham presiding. 
 The eminent legal dignitary just named had been, by turns, 
 a gambler, a drunkard, and a highwayman, afterwards mend- 
 ing his ways to some extent and reading law. With Popham 
 sat many other men of note, the King being careful to select 
 one or more whom he knew to be bitter enemies of Raleigh. 
 Attorney-General Coke, Serjeant Hele, and Serjeant Phillips 
 were attorneys for the prosecution. In that day the laws 
 of England did not give prisoners the advantage of counsel, 
 and hence Raleigh had to plead his own cause, which he did 
 with ability, dignity, and decorum. I shall not trouble my 
 hearers with an account of this trial. The absurdity of the 
 
SIE WALTER RALEIGH. 43 
 
 accusation is now admitted by all men, while the underhanded 
 displacement of impartial jurymen and the disgraceful con- 
 duct of the King's attorneys will ever remain as blots upon 
 the justice of the reign in which they occurred. In speaking 
 of the behavior of Attorney-General Coke during the trial, 
 an eminent Baltimore lawyer, J. Morrison Harris, said in 
 an address on Raleigh before the Maryland Historical So- 
 ciety in 1846 : "The conduct of Coke, the King's attorney, 
 was disgraceful to the position he occupied — to the sovereign 
 he represented — to the profession to which he belonged — the 
 age in which he lived — and the manhood he shamed. He 
 was, throughout the trial, ungenerous and unjust; overbear- 
 ing and cruel ; brutal and insolent." Continuing, Mr. Harris 
 says: "Venality soiled the ermine of the judge, and power 
 controlled the decision of the jury. The former pronounced 
 his doom with as much alacrity as he had formerly shewn 
 in taking purses on the highway, or bribes upon the bench ; 
 and the latter, in their eagerness to perform their part well, 
 overdid it; so that the malignant Coke, when he heard that 
 they had found him guilty of treason, exclaimed to the mes- 
 senger: 'Surely thou art mistaken; / myself only accused 
 him of misprision of treason!' " The programme for Raleigh's 
 conviction having been duly carried out by the jury, he was 
 condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. He peti- 
 tioned for a reprieve, writing to Cecil : "Your Lordship will 
 find that I have been strangely practiced against, and that 
 others have their lives promised to accuse me." 
 
 On December 10, 1603, James granted Raleigh a re- 
 prieve and the prisoner was carried from the place of trial 
 at Winchester back to London, where he was confined in 
 the Tower to await the King's pleasure. 
 
 In his work entitled Her Majesty's Tower, Hepworth 
 Dixon says: "The most eminent and interesting prisoner 
 ever lodged in the Tower is Raleigh ; eminent by his personal 
 
44 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 genius, interesting from his political fortune. Raleigh has, 
 in higher degree than any other captive who fills the Tower 
 with story, the distinction that he was not the prisoner of 
 his country hut the prisoner of Spain.' 7 And so he was, 
 during the latter part of his captivity. While in the Tower 
 he did not spend his time in useless repining, but well ex- 
 emplified the truth of the old lines: 
 
 "Stone walls do not a prison make 
 Or iron bars a cage; 
 A free and quiet mind can take 
 These for a hermitage." 
 
 The story of Raleigh's confinement is a long record of noble 
 literary and scientific achievements, too numerous to relate. 
 The most important of his productions was a History of the 
 World, which would have immortalized his name if he had 
 no other title to distinction. Some of his poetical produc- 
 tions are most charming. 
 
 Though the statement may be strong, I doubt if there has 
 ever been a man in the history of the world of whom so many 
 biographies have been written as those which treat of Ra- 
 leigh's career. Numerous publications of his works have 
 also been made, the standard edition being issued in eight 
 volumes by the University of Oxford in 1829, the first volume 
 in this series giving two separate biographies (written many 
 years before), one by William Oldys and the other by Thomas 
 Birch, and the last volume containing a collection of his 
 poems. 
 
 At times Raleigh's confinement in the Tower was light, 
 and at times oppressive beyond reason. Within the confines 
 of that gloomy stronghold "Raleigh's Walk" still preserves 
 his name. Once, during his imprisonment, to test the effect 
 which his death would have upon the public mind, the news 
 was spread abroad that he had committed suicide. Later his 
 captors tempted him to take that step by placing weapons 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 45 
 
 within his reach and turning his mind to the subject by dis- 
 coursing upon that custom of the old Romans when they 
 wished to end the ills of life. When conversations took this 
 turn, Raleigh "spoke very gravely against self-murder, saying 
 that for himself he would die in the light of day and in the 
 face of his countrymen." 
 
 In his confinement Raleigh had many unflinching and in- 
 fluential friends, among the most devoted being Prince Henry, 
 heir apparent to the throne, whose untimely death added to 
 the misfortunes of the captive. Prince Henry constantly 
 labored for Raleigh's release and visited him frequently in 
 the Tower, while the prisoner sought to return the kindness 
 by giving his royal visitor the benefit of his long experience 
 in state-craft and military operations on land and water. One 
 naval treatise he wrote for the especial instruction of Henry. 
 Queen Anne was also Raleigh's friend. Among the countless 
 throngs who sought his. society while he was a prisoner was 
 Thomas Hariot, who had been one of the voyagers to Roanoke 
 Island, and to whose pen we of the present day are indebted 
 for much of the early history of English colonization on this 
 spot. Raleigh readily and generously gave of his means to 
 enable Hariot to pursue his studies ; and, when powerless to 
 render him further assistance, sought and obtained for him 
 congenial employment in the service of the Earl of North- 
 umberland, a patron of letters and benefactor of scholars. 
 
 Raleigh was a sailor at heart and took a keen interest 
 in the welfare of the mariners of his country. While in the 
 Tower he contrived a process, designed for their benefit, 
 whereby salt water could be made fresh and used for drink- 
 ing purposes. Later he was deprived of his chemical appa- 
 ratus, and the secret was thereby lost, not being re-discovered 
 until modern times. 
 
 At times Raleigh had his heroic and devoted wife as the 
 companion of his confinement, and one of his sons was born 
 
46 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 in the Tower. Lady Kaleigh exhausted every means in the 
 interest of her husband during life, and called down curses 
 (later fulfilled) upon those who robbed him and his children 
 of Sherborne Castle and other property which his wealth 
 had beautified. The Sherborne estate alone had brought an 
 income of five thousand pounds annually, and yet in later 
 years, by way of restitution, Ealeigh was only given eight 
 thousand pounds in satisfaction of the ninety-nine year lease 
 which he had held. In speaking of Raleigh's family it may 
 be here mentioned that he left two sons: Walter (unmar- 
 ried), to whose death in South America I shall later call at- 
 tention; and Carew (1605-1666), who was educated at Ox- 
 ford, was a Cavalier in the Civil War of the next reign, mem- 
 ber of Parliament, cooperator with Monk in the Eestoration, 
 and Governor of Jersey, the post formerly held by his father. 
 The maiden name of his wife was Philippa Weston, at the 
 time of her marriage widow of Sir Anthony Ashley. By this 
 marriage Carew Ealeigh had two sons, Walter (a knight, 
 who died unmarried) ; and Philip, who married and left four 
 sons and three daughters. Through them Sir Walter Raleigh 
 doubtless has descendants now living. 
 
 Though King James could not be moved by mercy to Order 
 the release of Sir Walter Ealeigh from the Tower, his cu- 
 pidity was finally responsive to appeals in the prisoner's be- 
 half. Ealeigh still had hopes of great wealth to be found in 
 the Spanish possessions in Guiana, in South America, where 
 he had voyaged before, in 1595, and James was not averse 
 to having a chance at such a share as would fall by law into 
 the Eoyal treasury, though too cowardly to hold himself 
 answerable to Spain for having authorized the sailing of this 
 expedition. Ealeigh was accordingly released from the Tower 
 in 1616, and for the last time sailed westward on the 28th of 
 March, 1617. With the eight thousand pounds allowed him 
 for his lease on Sherborne Castle, with some purchase money 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 47 
 
 which had been paid Lady Ealeigh for landed property held 
 in her own right, and the sale of family plate, Raleigh risked 
 his all in this expedition, though history sometimes ac- 
 cuses him of going on this voyage when he knew it would 
 be unsuccessful. While in the Tower he had agreed to either 
 bring back a ton of rich gold ore from Guiana, or return and 
 spend the remainder of his days in prison. Raleigh's flagship, 
 the Destiny, was commanded by his son, Captain Walter 
 Raleigh, and with him also sailed a nephew, Captain George 
 Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to keep the destina- 
 tion of his expedition a secret, but his confidence was be- 
 trayed by the King himself in an attempt to shift from his 
 own shoulders all blame in the eyes of the Spanish minister 
 in London. Hence before Raleigh had gotten well out to 
 sea, his destination was known in the Court of Madrid. King 
 James had authorized Raleigh to seek gold in territory which 
 he knew was then occupied by Spain. He likewise knew 
 that the supposed feeling of the Devil for holy water was a 
 Damon and Pythias friendship in comparison with the hatred 
 which existed between English and Spanish colonists in the 
 New W x orld, and yet he sought to convince Spain that he 
 had no unfriendly motive in authorizing Raleigh to proceed 
 westward. Raleigh's fleet finally reached the mouth of the 
 Orinoco River, in South America; but there he became ill, 
 and hence was unable to head the expedition which was 
 preparing to march inland. The leadership of these land 
 forces he confided to a veteran sailor who had been with him 
 in Guiana before, Captain Laurence Keymis, with Captain 
 George Raleigh, second in command. Keymis first met a 
 Spanish force, which he routed, and then took possession 
 of the town of San Thome. Further up the road towards 
 the mines of which he was in search, another Spanish 
 detachment was discovered to be in ambush, and so formid- 
 able were their numbers that Keymis deemed it prudent to 
 
48 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 return to the ships. In the course of the fighting which had 
 occurred Raleigh's son and namesake was killed. This young 
 man had been a wild character in youth, but doubtless had 
 gathered wisdom in his more mature years, as evidenced by 
 so prudent a commander as his father entrusting him with 
 important posts on both land and water during this expedi- 
 tion. His death was of course a deep grief to his father. 
 The failure of the expedition to the mines was a source of 
 much disappointment to Raleigh, and his reproaches to 
 Keymis caused the unfortunate Captain to commit suicide. 
 The chances of success in Guiana now being most unfavorable, 
 Raleigh made a voyage all the way to Newfoundland in order 
 to re-fit and renew his efforts against the Spanish possessions 
 in South Ameria. In Newfoundland a portion of his crew 
 became mutinous, and he deemed it advisable to return to 
 England, which he accordingly did. Prior to his return ; Don 
 Diego Sarmientos de Acuna, Count Gondomar, diplomatic 
 representative of Spain at the English Court had made formal 
 complaint to King James on account of the breach of peace 
 which had been committed by his fleet-commander at a time 
 when no war existed between England and Spain, and had 
 denounced Raleigh as a pirate. King James was then making 
 every effort to effect a match between Prince Charles, his 
 heir, and a Spanish princess, so he basely denied all responsi- 
 bility for the expedition he had authorized, and issued a 
 proclamation for the arrest of Raleigh, who was accordingly 
 taken into custody and re-committed to the Tower. Says Mr. 
 Harris, in the address already quoted: "A writ of Privy 
 Seal was then despatched to the Judges, commanding them 
 to order its [the former warrant's] execution. They shrank 
 from the flagrant injustice. They declared that neither the 
 writ of Privy Seal, nor even a warrant under the Great Seal, 
 could authorize them, after so long an interval of time, to 
 execute the sentence without first affording the prisoner an 
 
SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 opportunity of pleading in person against it; and they re- 
 solved to bring him to the bar by a writ of habeas corpus, to 
 answer why execution should not be awarded against him." 
 The King approved this plan, and Ealeigh was hurried from 
 a sick bed to the bar at Westminster. It is needless to tell 
 of the outcome of these proceedings, wherein, at the instiga- 
 tion of Spain, an illustrious Englishmen was doomed to die 
 on the false charge that he had— sixteen years before- 
 plotted to dethrone King James in favor of Arabella Stuart, 
 a claimant who then had the warm support of Spain. With 
 all haste, James signed the death warrant, and Raleigh was 
 led to the block in Palace Yard, on October 29th (No- 
 vember 8th new style) 1618. On the day of execution 
 the High Sheriff offered his prisoner a slight delay m order 
 that he might warm himself before he said his prayers, but 
 this offer was declined, Raleigh saying that an ague, to which 
 he was subject, would soon come on again and cause his ene- 
 mies to say that he quaked from fear. He met his death with 
 courage and Christian fortitude. To a question from Dean 
 Tounson, as to his religious belief, he replied that he died 
 in the faith professed by the Church of England, and hoped 
 to have his sins washed away by the precious blood of our 
 Savior Christ. He carefully felt the edge of the executioner s 
 axe remarking that it was "a sharp remedy but a cure for 
 all diseases." As he was about to kneel on the block he was 
 told to turn his face toward the east, but answered that it 
 was "no matter how the head should lay if the heart were 
 rio-ht " At the request of friends, however, he did face east- 
 ward. Then he gave a signal, and the fatal blow was struck 
 Soon after Ealeigh's death, when King James was still 
 striving to effect a Spanish match for his son, he caused a 
 letter to be written to one of his representatives in Spain, 
 saying that he "had caused Sir Walter Raleigh to be put to 
 death CHIEFLY for the giving them [the Spaniards] satis- 
 
 4 
 
50 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 faction." In commenting on this admission, Dr. Hawks truly 
 observes: "No further evidence is necessary. Raleigh was 
 murdered and James was his murderer." And the memory 
 of Raleigh left its mark on the heart of that murderer ; for, 
 in later years, when young Carew Raleigh was brought to 
 Court by his kinsman, the Earl of Pembroke, that nobleman 
 soon carried him therefrom because the conscience-stricken 
 King was haunted by the lad's resemblance to his father, 
 declaring that he "looked like Sir Walter Raleigh's ghost." 
 
 In personal appearance Raleigh is represented to have been 
 tall and well-proportioned, with thick curly locks, beard, and 
 mustache, full red lips, bluish grey eyes, high forehead, and 
 long bold face. A number of portraits of him were painted, 
 among these being more than one by Federigo Zuccarro, a 
 Florentine artist who lived in England during the reign of 
 Elizabeth. One of the Zuccaro portraits was handsomely 
 copied in oil, several years ago, by order of Mr. Walter F. 
 Burns, who presented the reproduction to Chief Justice Clark, 
 of the Supreme Court of this State. Though highly valuing 
 this beautiful gift from an esteemed friend, the Chief Justice 
 generously decided that a more appropriate place for it to be 
 displayed would be the Mayor's Office in Raleigh, so he pre- 
 sented it to that city. Mr. Burns, at whose order this copy 
 was made, is a grandson of Captain Otway Burns, commander 
 of the privateer Snapdragon in the War of 1812-'15, an 
 American successor of the daring sea-rangers of the reign of 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 In an address delivered in the city of Raleigh before the 
 State Literary and Historical Association of North Carolina, 
 on November 4, 1909, the Right Honorable James Bryce, 
 Ambassador from Great Britain to the United States, said, 
 referring to those who have both made and written history: 
 "Such an one was the famous man who may be called the 
 first founder of North Carolina and whom you have fitly 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 51 
 
 commemorated in the name of the chief city of your State — 
 Sir Walter Raleigh. The adventurer is always an attractive 
 type, because spirit, courage, and love of discovery have a 
 perpetual fascination, and when the explorer or conqueror 
 has aims not wholly selfish, we are glad to palliate his faults. 
 Raleigh had his faults, but he was a fine specimen of the 
 bold, versatile, keen-witted, large-visioned man of the Eliza- 
 bethan age, not very scrupulous, but with gifts which engage 
 our sympathy, and rich in intellectual power. He was both 
 a man of action and a man of letters, and might, had cir- 
 cumstances allowed, have shone as brightly in the latter as he 
 did in the former field. He was a true Elizabethan in his 
 intellectual culture, in his largeness of spirit, in his far- 
 reaching imagination — a worthy contemporary of Shake- 
 speare and Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser and 
 Francis Bacon." 
 
 Though North Carolina's capital city of Raleigh is, in 
 itself, a monument "more lasting than brass," a plan is now 
 on foot to erect in that city a bronze likeness of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh that coming generations may behold the majestic 
 form of this great fore-runner of English civilization in 
 America. A sum something upwards of a thousand dollars 
 (made up of small contributions) has already been placed 
 in the hands of the treasurer of the association which is to 
 erect this monument, Mr. Joseph G. Brown, President of the 
 Citizens National Bank, of Raleigh, and this sum will doubt- 
 less be increased to a proportion which will creditably carry 
 out the patriotic plans of the promoters of this worthy enter- 
 prise. 
 
 In Dixon's work on the Tower of London, already quoted, 
 that author says of the execution of Raleigh: "That day 
 was thought to be a very sad day for Englishmen. The parti- 
 sans of Spain went mad with joy. Yet the victory was not 
 to Spain. A higher power than man's directs the course of 
 
*JOV 24 
 
 SIK WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 a nation's life; the death of a hero is not a failure, for the 
 martyr's blood is stronger than a thousand swords. The day 
 of Raleigh's death was the day of a new English birth. Eliot 
 was not the only youth of ardent soul who stood by the scaffold 
 in Palace Yard, to note the matchless spirit in which the 
 martyr met his fate, and to walk away from that solemnity — 
 a new man. Thousands of men in every part of England, 
 who had led a careless life, became, from that hour, the sleep- 
 less enemies of Spain. The purposes of Raleigh were ac- 
 complished in the very way his genius had contrived. Spain 
 held the dominion of the sea, and England took it from her. 
 Spain excluded England from the New World, and the genius 
 of the New World is English." 
 
 In closing these remarks I can not do better than quote the 
 beautiful lines of North Carolina's most gifted poet, Henry 
 Jerome Stockard, when treating of the same heroic character 
 of whom I have spoken today : 
 
 "And he still lives, the courteous and the brave, 
 Whose life went out in seeming dark defeat. 
 The Tower held not his princely spirit immured, 
 But in those narrow dungeon walls he trod 
 Kingdoms unlimited hy earthly zones, 
 And from its dismal gates passed unafraid 
 To an inheritance beyond decay, 
 Stored in the love and gratitude of man. 
 He lives in our fair city, noble State, 
 Puissant land — in all each hopes to be! 
 He lives in noble words and splendid dreams, 
 In strenuous actions and in high careers, 
 An inspiration unto loftier things." 
 
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