Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island is an island in the Outer Banks, near Manteo, North Carolina. About 12 miles long and 3 miles wide, the island lies between the mainland and the barrier island, with Albemarle Sound on its north, Roanoke Sound on its east, Pamlico Sound on its south, and Croatoan Sound on its west.In 1586 the island was the site of the first English colony in the Americas, but a ship visiting the colony in 1590 found that the colonists had disappeared. The word "Croatoan" was found carved on a tree, the significance of which is not clear. Their fate remains a mystery.
Battle of Roanoke Island, February 7 and 8, 1862
During the American Civil War the island was first fortified by the Confederacy, then occupied by Union forces, who established a colony there for freed slaves. (Compare "maroon" and "Marooning".) The Battle of Roanoke Island was an incident in Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition of January to July 1862), when Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside landed an amphibious force and took Condereate forts on the island. Afterwards, the three Confederate forts on the island were renamed for the Union generals who had commanded the winning forces: Fort Huger became Fort Reno; Fort Blanchard became Fort Parke; and Fort Bartow became Fort Foster. The freedmen's colony on the island is now a major tourist attraction, as is the North Carolina Aquarium.
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This article should be merged with Roanoke Colony