THE
*
(From the Paintin
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
FF YOU were asked to
[tallans who have ha
part in making American
many would there
Columbus, of course,
list, and after him
igo Vespucel, for whe
named, and John and Sebastian
who were [talians even
did sall ant
in the s You'd prob
ably include Henri de Tonti, the “Man With the
ron Hand," companion in
French explorer, La Salle.
jut there's still one missing. He was one of
the foreigners who aided the American colonies
In their struggle for Independence and thus had
a part in founding this nation. Every American
knows of La Fayette and De Kalb, the French-
men; Koscluscko and Pulaskl, the Poles: and
Yon Steuben, the German—all of whom fit that
description. But how many of them know about
Francesco Vigo, the Italian?
He was a “soldier, banker, spy, patriot, diplo-
mat and merchant prince”; he labored mightily
in the cause of American independence and long
afterwards in the Interests of the new Republic;
he is not only entirely worthy of being included
in any list, no matter how small and select, of
Italians who profoundly influenced American his.
tory, but he also deserves a position of honor in
the remembrance of Americans with the French.
men, the Poles and the German previously men-
tioned.
If this is true, why Is Vigo so little known to
most Americans?
“forgotten heroes,” who by some strange ture
arms of the great
Because he Is one of those
of fate have been denied the fame that Is right.
fully theirs. But fort: ly for Vigo's fame, a
fellow-country n., who won renown a few years
ago by excavating the buried Roman city of
Leptis Magna in northern Africa, has turned his
talents from archeology to biography and the
result is the first fulll
little-known hero of the Ar
the book “Vigo: A Forgotten Builde
American Republic,” by Bruns
by the
ength
“portrait” of this
erican Revolut
company
appropriate to examine this
»
It is especially
“portrait” at this time, for February 25 will
mark the one hundred fifty-fifth anniversary of
the capture of
Clark, one of the outstanding achievements of
the struggle for liberty because of its later re.
sults. Without the ald of Francesen Vigo, George
Rogers Clark might not have wou that splendid
victory, nor from it have come those important
results,
Most of the school histories mention Vigo's
name, but they assign him a minor role in the
story of Clark's eonquest of the Old Northwest,
But Mr. Rosell] has revised that view of him. Of
his early life, this much can be said: He was
born at Mondovi, Italy, on December 3, 1747.
Early In life the spirit of wanderiust seized him
and he ran away from home, eventually arriving
fn Spain, where he enlisted in the Spanish army
for service in the colonies as a muleteer, a driver
or caretaker of the long-eared animals which car-
ried army supplies.
Vigo was first sent to Havana, Cuba, with his
regiment and after a year there was sent to
New Orleans, where we find him listed as a
“fusilero” in the militia of that colony. Next
he became a member of a body of irregular
troops and by some means made his way up the
Mississippl river to St. Louis, where lived His
Excellency Don Fernando de Leyba, governor of
Upper Louisiana, which had been ceded to Spain
by France in 1762
“The post was small and presently the two
men came face to face,” writes Hoselll, “They
fully understood their mutual needs, and, while
starting from the opposite ends of the social
ladder, they had the wizdom to find at once a
common meeting ground,” So, a little later
“the two men entered into a secret partnership;
forming an alliance which their neighbors only
surmised at first, but which became a matter of
public record at de Leyba's untimely death.”
Thus Vigo embarked upon the career which was
to make him famous throughout the Mississippi
valley at the time as the “Spanish merchant,” a
contemporary designation which Ia largely re-
sponsible for later error in regard to his na-
tionality.
By the time George Rogers Ciark appeared nn
the scent Vigo was rated as one of tie woalthe
fest men in that part of the country with agen-
eles for his fur-trading business In Kaskaskia,
Vincennes and as far north as Mackinac, The
story of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia In 1778 is
too familiar to need recounting here, but Vigo's
part in the eapture of Vincennes, the next step
in Clark's ambitious plan to wrest the Old North-
srest from the British, is not so well known,
Clark realized that until the “‘ritish were driv-
Vincennes by George Rogers
%
fo
noo
Yr.
5 — 2. on
Clark’s March toVince nnes
bl
a, rE
CRN i
en from Vincennes, the real center of thelr pow-
er in that region, his hold on Kaskaskia was pre.
carious at best and his chances for extending
his conquest were very slight The only answer
to his problem was to attack Vincennes and
capture or drive away Gen, Henry Hamilton, the
British commander, and his force ther Cf this
Roselll says:
' “Clark, at
knew what wa
miles away through a no iy wilderness in
those sealoing of Ceneral Ham!
We Drow ¥ tht upon that stern fight
er ti i ‘Hair-Bayer.," No news had
rust Ist, €1598) : winter
was already npon them:
to reopen the line of supply
Tincennes and British Detroit,
igo, at this time, already a prosperous mer
' '
chant who could not with impunity forego his
interests, and an [tallan to whom the fu
this Franco-Anglo-Hispano American oo
might have seemed immaterial, left everything,
ateoever, started
fe took
and made for Vin
and, with noe remaneration wl
upon his career as a gentleman-spy.
with him a single servant,
Cennes,
his mission
succession of
“His one chance to accomplish
depended upon the following
events: He must be taken prisoner-—prevall upon
his savage captors not to scalp him—appear bee
fore Hamilton-—manage to avoid not only im
prisonment or execution, but even expulsion
linger on in Vincennes, seeing everything In the
fort and everybody in the settlement-—then make
good his escape. Not an easy program; but one
which he followed according to plans and sched-
ule.”
For Vigo succeeded In doing just as he had
planned, He was eaptured by Indians, brought
safely to Fort Sackville at Vincennes, questioned
by Hamilton, succeeded In allaying the British
general's suspicions enough so that Hamilton
allowed him to depart after he had been at
Vincennes for some time upon his signing a pledge
that he would return to St. Louls “without doing
anything injurious to British Interests” Vigo
scrupulously kept his pledge by returning to St
Louis, after which he immediately departed for
Kaskaskia and made the report to Clark on the
condition of the garrison at Vincennes which
determined Clark's decision to march against
that post,
But this spying trip of Vigo's was not his only
contribution to the success of Clark's expedition,
In fact, It was the least of it, for far more
important was his financial help which made
the expedition possible, During the summer of
1778 Clark had only Virginia currency, which
was no good with the French merchants of that
town, for the purchase of supplies until Vigo
induced them to accept it. Now Clark was agaln
in need of money--to pay his men. to buy arms
and supplies. Again Vigo came to his resene, On
December 4 he cashed a draft of Clark's on
Oliver Pollock, the Virginia agent at New Or.
leans, for more than $8000 and on January 28
he cashed another for nearly $1,500,
“Forty-eight hours later, Clark and his party
of 172, rapidly equipped with Vigo's cash and
supplies, were disappearing in the wilderness,
eastbound,” writes Roselli, “A long time would
pass before the gallant colonel beheld Pollock's
sarcastic letter explaining his refusal to extend
further credit to the Americans: ‘How Colonel
Clark and the State of Virginia expect such
heavy sums to be pald by men without money, Is
& mystery which only time can point out’ It Is
the quintessence of irony that the fiscal agent's
letter was written on the very same day when
Yigo, the stranger, was turning over his entire
fortune as an nrotected, unregistered, anlim.
which he onid collect If Clark
ver did ecellect even
a skirmish, annexed
knows, Clark did win
: a skirmish which
ler of Fort Sackville by Ham-
wader on February 25, 1779,
wi strengthened the
Bee nnes
issioners at
in demanding that
he new Republic should
stead of the Allegheny
ny Americans know
igo for his services in
making that sible or what was his later
career?
tis not mn story of which we, as 4 nation, can
very well be proud. After the Revolution Vigo
made his home at Vir He continued to
ovide money to sustain American credit in the
vwiy won wilderness. He tried to build up a
goeries of trading posts and protected trade routes
between Philadelphia, Detroit and New Orleans
that would bind the Indians to the American
canse, His extensive loans finally led to finan
cial disaster for the rich “Spanish merchant™
CEnnes,
routes was defeated by American inertia and
ineptness in dealing with the Indians. When he
tried to get back some of the money which he
had lent Clark and others, a pemsuriows and sus-
picious federal government refused to honor his
claims, despite the fact that Clark made full
acknowledgement of the justice of the claims In
letters to Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and
to George Mason,
To Vincennes came William Henry Harrison,
first governor of the territory, who became Vigo's
friend. Years later while the Italian was pressing
his claims against the government,
then President, nsed his influence (unsuccess-
fully, albeit) to get them paid
To Vincennes in 1834 came the noted traveler,
Maximilian, prince of Wied, who wrote In his
Journal: “Another
here, but forgotten, neglected, and in great pov
erty. 1 mean Colonel Vigo, who rendered impor.
tant services to the Americans. They, Indeed,
gave him the rank of Colonel, but now suffer
him to starve!”
In 1878 the “Vigo claims” totaling $40.808.60
were pald by the goverment to the second gen-
eration of his Indaws But the payment had
come just 40 years too late to save Francis Vigo
from “repeating the words which had become his
refrain In the long evening of his last days:
‘Everybody has forgotten me-—everybody.'"” He
died on March 22, 1836, and this once wealthy
“Spanish merchant” possessed at that time, ex-
clusive of his credit (7) upon the government
exactly $77.02,
Indiana remembered him to the extent of nam
ing a county after him. The bronze volee of a
bell, which he gave to his fellow-citizens of
Indiana sounds every day from the courthouse
of Vigo county at Terre Haute to recall his
memory, and over a grave In the cemetery at
Vincennes the Daughters of the American Revo.
lution have erected a memorial which tells that
here lies “Francis Vigo, patriot, whose devotion
to the cause of American lberty made possible
the capture of Fort Sackville”
© by Western Newspaper Union,
Frontiersmen
By
ELMO SCOTT WATSON
A Modern Knight Errant
the Rough Rider who went from Ari
war, there was more than one reason
why that monument should be an
equestrian statue of Bucky O'Neill
For In the words of one
"O'Neill was the most many-sided man
Arizona has ever produced. A knight
was always ready to couch a lance for
the weak and the distressed,
appeal, a woman's tears, disarmed him
atl once,
he could be hard and eold as chilled
steel”
from Pennsyl
during the Civil war. After
graduation from college In 1879 Bucky
Then he practiced
became sheriff of Yavapal county and
repeatedly proved the
quality of his
office
- chilled
cold, steel”
territory.
That territory wanted
state,
become a
So when the Spanish-American
who thought at Arizona might win
statehood If he sn proved them
“Who
wouldn't gamble for tar? he sald,
gelves worthy
as he signed ug g and he
meant another star in the flag that of
Arizona He wi he » first Hof
not the first, volunteer mustered into
nian
vell's
* against
up and
smok
ly ob
ning
1 him
own lest he be h With »
O'Neill replied “Sergeant, the
sh bul izn't made that will
kill me!™ The next moment a bul
did strike 1} and, 1 words of
Roosevelt, g beefy hg ¢] his
wild and gallan ou ad gone out
into the dark:
et
The Five Fighting Zanes
\A/ HEX it came time for old WI
liam Zane to die, he could take
pride In the fo that he !
fis talwart sons
the name { Zaoe
given
! ug there They were
Ebenezer Zane. founder in 1770
settlement which was to be
the present Wheeling, W Va: a
i
er In Lord Dunmore’s war
tier In Ohio on
Zanesville:
“
biazer i
Trace” which followed
Limestone (opposite Maysville
and over which poured a
gettlers inte Ohio and Kentucky: a
colonel of militia and a leader of men
down to the day of his death In 1811
Isanc Zane, eaptured by the Wyan
dots at the age of nine; a “white In
dian” for ten years as the adopted
gon of Chief Tarhe; then, returning to
his own people, a member of the Vir
ginia House of Durgesses: hack again
to the Wyandots to become the hus
band of Myeerah the “White Crane
daughter of Chief Tarhe, and to take
her with him into the Ohlo country to
establish the settlement which now is
Zanesfield and there to live with her
until his death in 1818,
Silas Zane, one of the first settlers
near Wheeling: a captain of Virginia
er's fort in 1777 but present there dur
ing the siege of 1782: a trader in the
Indian esuntry after the Revolution
and, aboat 1785, a victim to Indian
treachery on the Scioto river,
Jonathan Zape, captured at the age
of two by the same Indians whe car
ried off his brother, Isaac, he lived
with them only a short time before
being returned to his own people; a
stalwart fighter during the stirring
events around Fort Henry; a pioneer
into Ohio and the partner of his broth
er in marking “Zane's Trace”
Andrew Zane, an early settler at
Wheeling: hero of a famous exploit
during the siege of 1777 when he es
caped from the Indians by jumping
over a T0-foot cliff, only to be killed
by them a short time later,
“The Fighting Zanes"! Only five of
them? No! For there was another--a
sister worthy of ber brothers-etty
Zane, the girl whose swift feet hronght
the much-needed powder from Ebenezer
Zane's cabin to the hard-pressed de
fenders of Fort Henry during the siege
of 1782 and whose brave defiance of
death that day did much to make the
name of Zane forever famous.
© 1938 Western Newspaper Union,
1
¥
WORSE STILL
They
friend,
“Brown is a good fellow really,
sald Jones, “but he treats his poor
wife miserably.”
This seemed to surprise Grey
“What do you mean? he asked
“Does he beat her?”
“No, no!” sald Jones. “He §
fuses to argue with her”
were discussing
Hither and Yon
Husband (during quarrel} —Now,
know why women are called birds
His Wife—~Oh, an Ix that?
Husband-—PBecause you are always
chirping.
Hig Wife—1 it was on
account of the worms we 1 E np—
Border Cities
HOT AND COLD
“There me
tween them.”
“Yes, the
too hot tempers
Portfolios
“So foreign cabin
bolders of portfolios
ly?
“Yes,” sald
“Sometimes they
like portfolios to
night sullcases.™
Well Trained
“Sour mistress tells me, Jane
you wish te leave us to be
tendant at a lunatic asyiun
makes vou think you'll like
experience have you had?
“Well, sir, I've
years."
been
One Better
Plaintiff (in a county court)-—-Il
have witnesses to prove it
Defendant 1
prove that there were no
present.— London Answers
bave wits
No Hope
Manager—You may
golf some day if you stay
Jimmy-—Aw! 1 sta
Inst place on
Reminders
Jud Tunkins sars t!
a plepsant
got to read the big he
ments to be reminded
Washington Star,
place to live
No Cause for Rejoicing
“Senator. 1 see you helped cele
hrate Washington's triumph at York
town”
“Yes, 1 have nothing of my own to
celebrate.”
Needed Three
Ptamp One—In the bus this morn.
ing three men Jumped up and offered
me their seats.
Slim One—Did you
dear? Stray Stories,
take them,
Neo Self.Starter
Boss—Would you care if 1 gave
youn only $15 a week to start?
Gaga Gertle—Huh, I couldn't even
start caring for that!
EVERYWHERE