Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island was the site of the Roanoke Colony, an English settlement initially established in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh. A group of about 120 men, women and children arrived in 1587. Shortly after arriving in this New World, colonist Eleanor Dare, daughter of Governor John White, gave birth to Virginia Dare. She was the first English child born in North America. Governor White returned to England later that year for supplies. Due to impending war with Spain, White was unable to return to Roanoke Island until 1590. When he arrived, the colony had vanished. The fate of those first colonists remains a mystery to this day and is one of America's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. Archaeologists, historians, and other researchers continue to work to resolve the mystery. Visitors to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site can watch "The Lost Colony", the second-longest-running outdoor theatre production in the United States, which presents a conjecture of the fate of Roanoke Colony.
John G. Foster
After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in rebel territory, in April 1863 Foster appointed Horace James, an experienced Congregational chaplain, as "Superintendent of Negro Affairs for the North Carolina District." To support the transition to freedom for former slaves, he was to develop a colony from the contraband camp that had developed on Roanoke Island. It became known as the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony (1863–1867). James also managed other camps for freedmen in the state, such as one at Trent River near his base at New Bern. Foster directed James to settle the people, give them farming tools and prepare them for a "free and independent community."
By 1864, 2200 freedmen lived on Roanoke Island, settled on individual household plots, and working for pay for the Army. James recruited teachers and founded several schools. A sawmill was built and a fisheries started. More than 150 freedmen from the island joined the nearly 4,000 from North Carolina who joined the United States Colored Troops. After the war, the Army dismantled the forts. Due to President Andrew Johnson's returning lands to Confederate landowners, the colony was abandoned. Most of the freedmen chose to be transported to the mainland, where they looked for work. By 1870, only 300 remained on the island.