Name: _________________________________________________
Summary Worksheet 3
Directions: Read each passage. Highlight or underline necessary information. Write your summary.
1. The English were not the first Europeans to land
their ships on American soil. The Vikings had ____________________________________________
discovered North America in the 11th century.
Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492 for Spain, ____________________________________________
and the French began expeditions to the New World
in 1524. But the first English presence in North ____________________________________________
America is important because the thirteen English
colonies that would later be established eventually ____________________________________________
became the country now known as the United States
of America.
2. In April of 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh, under the
authority of Queen Elizabeth of England, sent an ____________________________________________
expedition of seven ships carrying 600 men, half of
them soldiers, to found an English colony in North ____________________________________________
America. The colony was to be used to establish an
English presence in the New World as well as a base ____________________________________________
from which English privateers, or pirates, could
attack and plunder Spanish treasure fleets. Raleighs ____________________________________________
cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, led the expedition.
3. In July of that year the bulk of the fleet reached a
small island off the coast of Virginia that was called ____________________________________________
Roanoke. After building a small fort on the north side
of the island, the colonists initiated relations with a ____________________________________________
Native American tribe that lived on the island, the
Aquascogoc. These natives showed little interest in ____________________________________________
building relations with the English colonists, and they
soon parted company. After this encounter, however, ____________________________________________
the English noticed that one of their silver cups had
____________________________________________
gone missing, and they attributed its disappearance to
the Aquascogoc. Grenville, the English captain, was
____________________________________________
furious. He believed that the Aquascogoc had stolen
the silver cup. Whether or not this was true, angry ____________________________________________
exchanges followed and soon the English burned the
Aquascogoc village. The English held their fort
against the subsequent attacks of the natives.
4. Despite their success in battle, the colonists had a
miserable time because they were mainly soldiers and ____________________________________________
adventurers, not farmers. They were hungry. They
missed the comforts of England, such as soft feather ____________________________________________
beds and dainty foods. Also they had expected to find
gold and silver on the island, and were disappointed ____________________________________________
when they found none. Grenville soon tired of these
conditions and set out on his ship to plunder Spanish ____________________________________________
treasure fleets and return to England. The colony was
gradually abandoned.
5. In 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched a further
__________________________________________ expedition of three ships and 150 colonists, led by
John White, to Roanoke. This time the expedition
__________________________________________ included women and children, including Whites
pregnant daughter, Elenora. Shortly after they
__________________________________________ reached Roanoke, Elenora delivered a child whom
they named Virginia. Virginia was the first English
__________________________________________ person born in America. But the English soon ran
into more trouble with the Native Americans. A
__________________________________________ colonist named George Howe was killed by natives
while searching for crabs alone on the beach. The
__________________________________________ colonists were scared. They persuaded White to
sail back to England to ask Sir Walter Raleigh for
__________________________________________ help. White left behind 114 colonists, including his
daughter Elenora and granddaughter Virginia.
6. Unfortunately for White and the colonists,
__________________________________________ England was preparing for a naval war with Spain.
All shipping from English ports was ceased. It took
__________________________________________ White three years to get his relief expedition back
to Roanoke. When he returned in August of 1590,
__________________________________________ White found no sign of his daughter,
granddaughter, or anyone else. They found three
__________________________________________ letters, CRO, carved on a tree and the full word,
CROATOAN, on a nearby post. Possibly this
__________________________________________ referred to the Croatoan Island, which was nearby.
White searched long and anxiously, but failed to
__________________________________________ find them.
7. No further trace of the lost colony has ever been
__________________________________________ found. Sir Walter Raleigh himself searched for the
colonists in 1595, and he sent another search-party
__________________________________________ in 1602, but nothing came of either attempt. To this
day no one knows for certain what happened to the
__________________________________________ colonists.
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
