Authors Note:

In 1584, a group of English came to Roanoke Island to explore and map the land for
future explorers. One year later another group of English came for a military and scientific
mission. However, this group was driven back to England by local Native tribes, because the
Natives were angry at the fact the colonists were taking up good land and resources. In 1857 the
third group arrived, entirely made up of families with children (115 people). This meant the
colonists were there to settle in the New World permanently, not for a military expedition,
because that would only include male explorers. That year, the Governor, John White was
forced to return back to England because of a desperate need of supplies. Unfortunately for him
and the colonists, a major naval war broke out between England and Spain, and the Queen
wouldnt lend White a ship because she needed all of them to fend off the Spaniards. The war
postponed Whites return for 3 years, and when White finally returned to Roanoke, the colony
was uninhabited and deserted. The only clue left by the Colonists was a tree engraved with the
word Cho and a sign bearing the words Croatan. Croatan was a neighboring island inhabited
by natives.


There are many theories of what happened to the Roanoke, including but not limited to :

> The colonists got attacked by local natives because of the tension formed by the prior explorers
> The whole population was killed by disease
> The colony was destroyed by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane.
> The Roanoke Colonists decided to leave the settlement to live with local native Americans
> The Roanoke Colonists simply left the colony.

Even though no one is sure what exactly happened to the mystery colony, it is almost
certain that the fence surrounded the Colony was still standing despite the destroyed houses,
there was no dead bodies, no Native tribe would accept them because of the remaining tension/
distrust and the ONE dead body they found proved to be the work of the Natives. These facts
disprove some of these ideas, which is why I chose the fate of the Natives, because it is one of
the most probable theories. The only part of this disturbing mystery that is certain to scientists
and historians, is that John White left for 3 years to gather supplies from England, and when he
returned to Roanoke the colony was uninhabited.

Since I had so little to base my story off of, it gave leeway for creativity and artistic
license. When writing this story, I had absolutely no intention of portraying Native Americans as
bad human beings, or being controversial, however I had to write the event through the eyes of a
young English girl.

My main character Charlotte, was completely a work of my imagination. The reason why
I chose to write through her perspective, is because I wanted to tell the story from someone other
than John White, who is the only perspective you hear, and I wanted to write a story from the
eyes of a person who actually experienced the event. It is still uncertain who wrote the word
Croatoan on the post, so I wanted my main character to play a big role in the event, while still
historically remaining anonymous.