England’s First Years in the New World

The story of Sir Walter Ralegh’s effort to sponsor a first English settlement in North America is so rich in high ambition and personal tragedy, intimate encounters and historical resonance that it should have been dramatized by one of the great playwrights of his day. It is an epic that bridges the world of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Francis Drake and Shakespeare and traces the first steps along the path toward what would become the United States.

Better yet, at its center is the first great mystery in American history: What became of the settlers who, with Ralegh’s backing, set sail from England in 1587 aiming for a site on the Chesapeake near where Jamestown would be built 30 years later, but were marooned on the Outer Banks, leaving only haunting clues to their ultimate fate. No author could ask for better material.

Giles Milton’s previous work, “Nathaniel’s Nutmeg,” was a critical and popular success in evoking the unfamiliar history of the 17th century English spice trade through the life of Nathaniel Courthope, a lieutenant of the East India Co. Rehearsing the history of English efforts to create colonies in North America from the 1530s through Jamestown must have seemed like an ideal project for him, especially since he could use Ralegh’s event-filled life as his central thread.

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“Big Chief Elizabeth” unfortunately seems to have been hastily written and produced and is often disappointing. Dispensing with citations, Milton wants us to trust his walk through the sources, and he just doesn’t have the evenhanded authority to pull that off. It is particularly frustrating because he has a fascinating story to tell.

Walter Ralegh (the spelling Milton and most scholars use) was a driven man. Born in a rented house in Devon to an old but not noble family that had fallen on hard times, he was a perpetual outsider. His thick accent stamped him a rube to court sophisticates. But his family also gave him two assets: fervent Protestantism that drew the attention of Elizabeth when she became queen and a passion for taking to the sea in pursuit of adventure, wealth and new lands for England. Ralegh’s contemporaries were the dashing men such as Drake who were fighting the Spanish at sea and pushing to establish English settlements in the New World. These adventurers also knew that in order to gain royal support for their overseas ambitions, they had to convince the queen. Here Ralegh outdid them all.

Tall, handsome, arrogant, extremely quick-witted and a gifted poet, Ralegh seduced Elizabeth. This was certainly a conquest laden with eros, but there is no evidence that it was physical. Instead, he won her with charm and boldness, and she responded by showering him with gifts. Milton carefully notes that the cape story and the mud puddle story--a perfect illustration of what Ralegh called his “war” to win the queen--has only one rather questionable source, but he then goes ahead to treat the second half of that same story from the same source as historical fact. This would be like attributing the Washington-and-the-cherry-tree fable to the eccentric early 19th century biographer Parson Weems, but then treating “I cannot tell a lie” as an authentic quotation.

That second tale has Ralegh trying an even bolder gambit. Seeing the queen, he scrambled up a ladder and used a diamond ring to etch a message to her: “Fain would I climb, but I fear to fall.” She is said to have borrowed the ring to scratch out her own flirtatious reply: “If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all.”

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Climb Ralegh did, and he used his newfound wealth and influence to sponsor a series of efforts to establish colonies in the New World. Milton traces the story of these abortive efforts, liberally quoting from the reports written at the time. It is nice to have this quick march through the sources, and he does offer a handy survey of what happened when. But his point of view is that of an unabashed Englishman who feels no need to question the deeds of his ancestors. Thus English captains--no matter how destructive their encounters with the Indians--are “valiant,” exemplars of Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai-style pluck and stoic will. In turn, he lavishes page after page on reports of Indian treachery, cruelty and even cannibalism, though he admits the accounts were “embellished.”

Why Ralegh’s colonies failed is a series of historical mysteries: Could less punitive English actions have led to alliances with Indians who were running through their own limited supplies feeding strangers? Were enemies of Ralegh or of England trying to sabotage the colonies? What finally became of the group that the painter John White brought to America in 1587? Milton has nothing new to say on these questions. Instead, he very closely paraphrases the conclusions that Dr. David. B. Quinn came to after a lifetime of research.

For those who want to see those views in the original, I recommend Quinn’s magisterial book “Set Fair for Roanoke,” which was published 13 years ago on the 400th anniversary of the Lost Colony. Those who would like to see a fresher take based on new sources will have to wait until this summer when Lee Miller’s fascinating if breathless “Roanoke,” which is already available in England, is published here.

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Marc Aronson is the author of “Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado.”