What do you think happened to the lost colony Roanoke? Provide reasoning for your explanation.

The Colonists were Murdered

Explanation:

"In 1607, Captain John Smith tried to uncover what happened at Roanoke. He claimed that Chief Powhatan told him that he killed the people of the colony to retaliate against them for living with another tribe that refused to ally with him. Allegedly, Powhatan showed Smith items he took from Roanoke to support his story, including a musket barrel and a brass mortar and pestle. By 1609, this story reached England, and King James and the Royal Council blamed Powhatan for the missing colonists.

William Strachey seemed to back up the story, confirming the slaughter with his investigation in his work The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia. Powhatan claimed that he ordered the killings because there was a prophecy that he would be conquered and overthrown by people from that area. Contemporary historians and anthropologists dispute this story because there were never any bodies or archaeological evidence found to support the claim, but it has persisted for more than four hundred years.

Recently, author and researcher Brandon Fullam has reexamined Smith and Strachey's sources and has suggested that the Powhatan massacre could have been the 15 settlers left behind from the second expedition, still leaving the mystery of Roanoke unsolved."

-History Collection

Colonists were Murfreesboro