After Columbus discovered America many ships from Spain, France, and England sailed across the sea, bringing settlers to plant new homes here. Spain took possession of Florida; France of Canada; and England claimed all the land lying between Canada and Florida, and called it “Virginia.” The English sent over a shipload of one hundred and fifty settlers, who landed on the beautiful island of Roanoke. When their rough houses were built and the people had planted their fields and the colony seemed prosperous, Governor John White resolved to return home to report their success and to bring new provisions for them. He did not like to leave because unfriendly Indians roamed about, and besides, there was a little baby girl, his granddaughter, named Virginia (who was the first English child ever born in America), whom he did not like to leave. But the people needed provisions, and so the brave man sailed back to England. It was three years before his ship returned and he again drew near the island. Eagerly he looked up and down the shore for signs of a welcome from his people. But only the washing of the waves on the beach and the stillness and gloom of the dense forest greeted him. Not a person was to be found. His little granddaughter, her parents, and all the colonists had disappeared. The huts were deserted. Not a sound was to be heard but the cry of the birds and the moaning of the trees. On a tree were cut a few letters. Was it the name of some place to which the people had moved? Poor John White! He never found out. Heart-broken, he turned his ship back to England. Not a trace of this lost colony, not a trace of the little babe, Virginia Dare, has ever been found.
Captain John Smith was a brave and wise man who came from England and settled in Virginia. One day some of his men disobeyed orders and got into a quarrel with the Indians. John Smith was taken prisoner and led into their camp. He showed them his compass, and told them how the needle always turned to the north, which so amused the Indians that, instead of killing him, they took him to their chief, Powhatan, who said, “The white man must die.” He was bound hand and foot, and an Indian was just raising his war-club to kill him, when up rushed Pocahontas, a bright Indian girl, the chief’s daughter, who threw her arms around John Smith’s neck and begged her father to spare him. Powhatan loved Pocahontas, so the prisoner was released, and even allowed to return to his own people. Pocahontas became a good friend of the white men. She was beautiful, and John Rolfe fell in love with her. After their marriage they went to England, where Pocahontas was everywhere received with great honor. The king and queen invited her to their palace, and all loved the gentle Indian princess. They intended to return to America, but Pocahontas died in England. Her little son, Thomas Rolfe, was well educated in England. When he grew up he settled in Virginia.