Left Flank

The subtitle of this book, The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America, is perhaps more accurate than the title, which should be something like "Walter Raleigh, America's First Governor". Big Chief Elizabeth's narrative spans the reigns of three English monarchs, from Henry VIII to James I, but Ralegh's constant devotion to his colonization project amidst all the distractions of English and world history is the main focus. The casualty of those distractions is the Roanoke colony, the so-called "Lost Colony", founded in 1586 (check out also the Searching for the Lost Colony DNA Blog.

One surprising aspect of this book's discussion, other than the theory it espouses about the fate of the Lost Colonists, is Ralegh's opinion and directives about how colonists should deal with the native inhabitants. Having studied the Spanish approach to dealing with the Indians, Ralegh made it a crime punishable by death to harm Indians. Obviously, this policy was difficult to keep, and Milton is quite clear about how many chiefs dealt with outsiders. But, this policy led to several public relations campaigns featuring tours of England by willing and unwilling Indians to London. The most notable, of course, was the marriage and visit to London of Pocahontas and her husband, John Rolfe. Within this civilizing project, whereby Indians were converted to Christianity and lived as English, lies one strand of the future problems plaguing American-Native American relations to this day.

This book is loaded with a wealth of colorful details about all participants in the colonization project. For instance, Englishmen walked the entire coast of America well before Jamestown and Plymouth were founded. The author tries to address alternate theories of what happened to the Lost Colony, but not thoroughly. His retelling of this narrative includes the Pocahontas legends, the story of Jamestown, the competition between England and Spain, Elizabeth's and James' court politics, Walter Raleigh's role as the first governor of Virginia, and some Native American politics. It works best as an introduction to all.