Determined to establish a permanent English "nation" in the New World, Raleigh sent a second group of settlers one year later. Under the guidance of Governor John White, 117 men, women and children sailed for the New World, and stopped precisely where Raleigh had specifically instructed them NOT to stop; Roanoke Island.

The second colonists landed in the middle of summer. It was too late to plant crops to see them through the winter, and there was not enough food left in the supplies brought from England to feed the group until a spring crop could be planted and harvested. John White agreed to return to England for additional supplies. The settlers remained behind — on Roanoke Island. Before he left, White and his group agreed that, if they moved inland away from the open sea, markings would be left behind indicating the direction they traveled. If they fled in haste, or were in danger, they were to carve a cross in a prominent place to be easily seen.

Unfortunately, when White arrived in England he found the country at war with Spain, and the circumstances of that war would prevent him from returning to America for 3 years. When he did arrive at Roanoke Island, he found not one member of the group he had left behind. This group became known as the "Lost Colony", and remains so known today. One North Carolina scholar wrote: "When the colonists receded from White's view, as he left the shores of Virginia, they passed from the domain of history, and all we know is that misfortune and distress overtook them; and that they miserably perished, their sad fate being one of those deplorable sacrifices that have always attended the accomplishment of great human purposes."

How incredible that historians have always blindly accepted, and continue to accept, this naive assumption in spite of the weight of evidence to the contrary.

Based on his own writings and his personal account of his return to Virginia, White was not overly worried about the missing people. They had left his personal possessions behind along with other items which would have been too awkward or too heavy to carry on a long trip. These things had been buried for safekeeping until they could be reclaimed later. As he had instructed, White found the letters "C.R.O." carved on a tree, and the word "CROATOAN" carved on a gatepost. THERE WAS NO CROSS, the agreed upon sign of danger.

At the time of the first attempt at settlement, a Native leader named Manteo, of the Hatteras Nation, had befriended these strangers to his shores. In his records, White wrote "I greatly joyed that I had safely found a certain token of their being at Croatoan, which is the place where Manteo was born, and the savages of the island our friend." White embarked on a search for Croatoan, but his search was cut short by a sailing captain who insisted that he must leave for the West Indies. To add to the confusion, White could not have known that the word "Croatoan" referred to a large hunting area used by the Hatteras, and not to a specific location or village.

As the stream of Europeans continued to flow into this country, many took up the search for The Lost Colony. Amazingly enough, their reports and findings have been continually and consistently ignored by modern historians. Following the founding of Jamestown, Captain John Smith wrote, in 1608, that two explorers had been told by Natives in the area of men who dressed like Englishmen. In 1613, an official of the Virginia Colony wrote of Native reports that White's people had moved inland, built 2-story stone houses, and lived with the Natives for some 20 years. With the settling of Jamestown, they had moved with their Native families further south, into Lumbee territory.

The reports became more detailed as explorers continued their journeys southward. In 1660, a minister told of being overtaken by friendly Natives who spoke English. The very careful and detailed accounts of the adventures of a German explorer who traveled south from Virginia tells of his meetings with "a powerful nation of bearded men".

John Lawson, often referred to as the "first North Carolina historian", wrote of a Native guide he hired who knew about "talking books and speaking paper", and who asked to see a Bible Lawson had with him. This guide asked Lawson to take his son and educate him in the ways of the whites, and showed a true affection for the English. The guide also spoke of his ancestors, the Hatteras, SOME OF WHOM WERE WHITE, and of his relatives with gray eyes. Lawson also tells of being given chickens by friendly Natives - a clear indication of the survival of the English since there was no domestic fowl on this continent until introduced by the English.

The Natives of this swampy, tidewater area of North Carolina have always referred to themselves as "The Lumbees - The People of the Lumbee River". White governments, always confused by this group of "talkative Indians", have called them just about everything else until 1953 when they were finally, "officially" named The Lumbee.

Convinced of the accuracy of their genetic ties to The Lost Colony, a state legislator introduced a bill in 1888 to name the Indians Of Robeson County (as they were known at that time) The Croatoan in honor of the place he believed The Lost Colony had settled. The future governor stated that, after an exhaustive examination, his opinion was that these Natives were the descendants of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony.

Still later, a professional historian of national respect, after an examination of the oral and written evidence existing, concluded, in 1891: "The Croatoans of today claim descent from The Lost Colony. Their habits, disposition and mental characterists show traces of Indian and European ancestry. Their language is the English of 300 years ago, and their names are in many cases the same as those borne by the original colonists. No other theory of their origin has been advanced, and it is confidently believed that the one here proposed is logically and historically the best, supported as it is both by external and internal evidence. If this theory is rejected, then the critic must explain in some other way the origin of a people which, after the lapse of 300 years, show the characteristics, speak the language, and possess the family names of the second English colony planted in the western world."

Investigations continued, but none disputed the earliest records of history. In 1914, the Secretary of the Interior was sent by the U.S. Senate to investigate the tribal rights of the Indians of Robeson County. The findings included statements like, "There is a tradition among these people at the present time that their ancestors were The Lost Colony, amalgamated with some tribe of Indians. This tradition is supported by their looks, their complexion, color of skin, hair and eyes, by their manners, customs and habits, and by the fact that while they are, in part, of undoubted Indian origin, they have no Indian names and no Indian language." His further search revealed that there were 95 different surnames which came from the original 117 settlers of The Lost Colony. He was able to account for 41 of those direct surnames among the Lumbee, and still more that had been altered in some manner. The Secretary's investigation validated that the Lumbee were, indeed, descendants of The Lost Colony.

Were the Lumbee given tribal rights following this investigation? NO. Without exception, every attempt to gain recognition for these Natives has been rejected by Congress. Why? Well, because they don't LOOK Indian according to the standards for appearance that had been set, they don't ACT Indian (whatever that means), they don't TALK Indian (no language of their own), they don't have Indian names, so they clearly are NOT Indian.

It is generally accepted by acknowledged historians and scholars of past generations that The Lost Colony was taken in by a Native tribe (probably the Hatteras) who moved south along the Lumbee River (called Lumber by the whites) in Robeson County, North Carolina. Yet, our history books have never been corrected. It is the position of our elected officials that the Lumbee have been so acculturated into English ways that nothing of their Native traditions exist, and that their Native blood has been so diluted by European blood that they are no longer "red".

So what of the Lumbee of today? Even though they do not officially exist, the Lumbee Nation is the largest of the Eastern bands. Numbering approximately 50,000, they acquired their ancestral lands the "white" way; they bought it. The social center of the Lumbees is still Robeson County, North Carolina, and their political seat is the town of Lumberton. They own and control their own businesses, schools, churches, and other public and private enterprises. They are governed by elected officials of their own Nation. Yet, with all this power, the Lumbee citizen cannot secure a CDIB registration card because they are not a "recognized tribe". The Lumbee is just one more of the thousands of Native nations who have never been acknowledged by the U.S. Government and who, therefore, do not exist in the eyes of the laws which control this land.

As late as 1992, yet another bid for tribal recognition was rejected by Congress. Their logic? The Lumbee do not have the required "percentage of Native blood" necessary to be accepted. (Read more about events with the Lumbee in "The Un-Real, Un-Red and Un-Dead People" here on Innerspace.) They are very prosperous and self-governing. They do not need the control of the government, the subsidies, the allotments and the handouts. There is nothing the government "can do" for the Lumbee, so "there is no reason to grant them tribal standing." The point has been missed . . . again.

The Lumbee seek tribal recognition because they are among the First Peoples of our land, because they are real and do exist, and because their heritage and their traditions are very much alive in their lives and in their hearts.

During one of the town hall meetings President Clinton held during his campaign for his first election, a young woman stood and asked him what he planned to do about "the situation with the Lumbee". Of course, Clinton had no idea what she referred to, but he said that he would investigate. Did he? Has he? Will anything be done?
 

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