The only evidence left by the colonists were the words "CRO" and “CROATOAN,” which were believed to be a clue to their ultimate destination, the Croatoan Village. It was the place where Manteo was born and his mother was Chief of the Croatoans.
Oberg (2008) states that the Hatteras (formerly known as the Croatoans) told John Lawson: "That several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in a Book, as we do; the Truth of which is confirm’d by gray Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians and no others" (p. 131). In addition, MacDougall (1995) states that Lawson came across the Croatoans: “They wished so fervently for White’s return […] people had visions in their dreams of seeing ships” (p. 25).
The Croatoans began calling themselves the Hatteras Indians by the 1700s. Today, they are known as the Lumbee Tribe and known as an officially mixed tribe. |
During the time of slavery, the colonists and Croatoan Tribe were mentioned again after a tragic event in 1864, in which young men of the Lumbee Tribe were killed by a white man who had them in custody. Due to this injustice, George Lowrie gave this speech:
We have always been the friends of the white men. We were a free people long before the white men came to our land. Our tribe was always free. They lived in Roanoke in Virginia. When the English came to Roanoke our tribe treated them kindly. One of our tribe went to England in an English ship and saw that great country. We took the English to live with us. There is a white man's blood in these veins as well as that of the Indian. In order to be great like the English, we took the white man's language and religion, for our people were told they would prosper if they would take white men's laws. In the wars between white men and Indians we always fought on the side of the white men. We moved on this land and fought for liberty for white men, yet white men have treated us as negroes. Here are our young men shot down by a white man and we get no justice, and that in a land where our people were always free (Brown, 1891. n.p.).
Historians began researching the Lumbee Tribe after this speech. Some historians found that the Lumbee Tribe share similar surnames with the Roanoke Colonists. According to Durant, “In 1881, Hamilton McMillan discovered that out of ninety-five surnames borne by the lost colonists, forty-one coincided with Lumbee names” (Durant, 1981, p. 164).
Even today, the Croatoan (also known as the Hatteras and Lumbee) Tribe claim that they are descendants of those from the Lost Colony of Roanoke.
Even today, the Croatoan (also known as the Hatteras and Lumbee) Tribe claim that they are descendants of those from the Lost Colony of Roanoke.