Show I The of oft 0 t 3 el Vincenne s g S s V Ii E t a y ti tia a a aw w Jh a L 3 t t s st ss sf s f J 3 K i E 9 a r Aa w t rt Coll t Col C lk lka l t 3 4 a to y Gt a Clark T TV a iI s r V f F t Fa a 1 7 iv h q S Siv Z r S P X r a S St v k l R b b bs t tYr q df n 1 s s ss Y s as t F i F Fa a f s kry a rv ih e Fort From th t nG Hamilton Bobbs 0 t l By SCOTT WATSON r P YOU were asked to make mahe a list of VT lIans It who ho have hale had an Important n part In making m American hl history tory how many would there thero be Christopher Columbus of course would head the list list and after him would come Amer AmerIgo AmerIgo Igo for whom America was as wasy named and John and Sebastian Cabot Cahot who ho were ere Italians even though they they 1 did sail under the banner of England In the era of ery You 11 probably probably probably ably Include Henri de Tonti the Min Mm hn With the theron theIron fron ron Hand companion ID In arms of the grealI great I 1 rench reach explorer La Salle But there s still one missing lie was wis one of the foreigners who ho aided the American colonies In their struggle for Independence and thus had hada hada a 8 part In founding this nation L Every cry American knows of La and De Kalb the French Frenchmen Frenchmen men and Pulaski the Poles and andSon and on Son on Steuben the German all German all of horn fit that description But how many of them know about Francesco f Sigo Igo the Italian lIeas lIe He was as n soldier banker spy patriot diplo diplo- diplomat diplomat diplomat mat and merchant prince he labored mightily In the cause of American Independence and long In the Interests of the new Republic Republic he ie Is not only entirely worthy of being Included In any list list no matter how small and select of who ho profoundly Influenced American his torn tor but he also deserves a position of honor In Inthe Inthe the remembrance of Americans with the French Frenchmen Frenchmen Frenchmen men the Poles and the German previously men If this Is true why hy Is Vigo so co 0 little known to most Americans Because he Is one of those forgotten 4 heroes s who by some strange turn 1 of f fate have hare been teen denied the time fame that Is right full theirs But fortunately for S Igo s fame a fellow countryman country countr man who ho won on renown a few fe y em eai s sn sago n ago o by excl a ting the burled Homa Roman Koman n city of ofT T I Magna In northern Africa Ins has turned his talents from archeology to biography and the result Is the first full length portrait of this known little known n hero of the American Revolution Revolution- the book Sigo 10 A Forgotten Builder of the Republic bv by Pruno published by bv the Stratford company of Boston It Is especially appropriate to en examine mine this 4 p ll at this time for I 25 23 j will mark the one hun hundred fifty fifth anniversary of ofHie the capture of by George no Rogers ers Clark one of the outstanding achievements of the struggle for liberty because of Its later re suits Without the aid of Francesco S Igo 10 Geor George GeorgeI e eJ J I Cleric Clark might not hn have base won that splendid victory nor from It have come tho those e Important results Most lost of ot the school histories mention Vigo s flume amine but they assign n him him a minor role In the 1 story tory of Clark s conquest of tl tI tic e a Old l eat Pat Iut Mr Ir has hns res re revised 1 Iced tint that view of him film Of Isis early life much can be he said 11 lie Ile was ns born at Mondovi 1 Italy Ital on December 3 1747 17 In life the spirit of ot wanderlust seized him bins eventually Ing and nd he lie rio r-in awa away awai from frolD home In Spain where be he enlisted In the Spanish for tor service In the colonies as ns a muleteer a driver animals which car oi I c of the Ion long eared cared vied army ermy supplies Sigo 10 was as first sent to na Havana naana ana Cuba with th his regiment and after atter a year there was as sent cent to Tew ew evv Orleans where here we awe e find him listed as a n fusilero 4 In the militia of tint that colony ext 1 I 1 e he became alDe a member of n a body of Irregular troops and by ty some means made hIs Ills way ay up the river riser rl er to St louis I where here 11 lived lined cd Ills his Don Fernando de I yb eyba governor of I which hall had been ceded to Spain by Ly Trance France In small email and presently the two The postas post was as men came face to face writes They The fully ull understood their mutual needs and while starting from the opposite ite en ends s of the social ladder they ha had the Ule wisdom to find at once a So fo a little later common meeting ground round o the the t two 0 men entered Into a secret partnership forming an alliance which their neighbors only 2 surmised n nt at t first but hut which became a milter of public record nt at de I Ix- Ix y ba bas s untimely death embarked the career care which was ns thus 1 hus Io Iho upon to make him famous throughout hout the Mississippi valley Talley at the time as the Spanish merchant a designation which Is largely ely re fur later error In lu to his na By the time George Rogers Hoger Clark red appeared on the scene cene Sigo o wis 1 ratel rated as one of the w st I men In th-it th part of ot the country with Ith agen aen cles des for his lils fur fm trading trailing business s In and s liS far nOI north th as ns the I 1 he V story of or Clark dark s a capture of In 1778 Is too familiar to need recounting here but Ig r last al t In lu the Hie capture ture of the next licit step stepIn stepin stepIn In dark Clark s ambitious plan t to wrest the else Old orth 1 north nest from the British Is not f fell BO so well sell 1110 1 I sown n Clark UarL tenured realized that until the British were via dl dily vs- vs 1 rah a S i r Clarks t Rom the Mural by G ibert Wh te Courtesy Yal Un Dress y g gs s r I I Fort Ind c from on Old Oid Draw en from S the real center of their row rower rower er In that region his hold on kaskaskia was as pre precarious carious c at best an and his Isis chances for extending ln his conquest were ere very ery slight The only on I answer to his problem was to attack S nn and capture or drive sway iway Gen Cen Hamilton the British commander and his force there Of this Hose Roselli 5 VS dirk Clark at Ka was as helpless until he hehne knew what hat wis going on at S 0 over oser er OO miles awty through a muddy wilderness infested b those scalping Indians of whose hoe prowess pro ess had brought upon that thit stern fight fighter fighter lighter er the name of ot Hair Bu Buyer er no o ne news nes s had leaked through since August 1st 1778 winter Inter with Ith Its terrors was already upon them and spring was ns bound to reopen the line of cuppl I een British S an and Detroit Detroit Sigo Igo at this time alrea already y a prosperous mer merchant chant who ho could not with Impunity forego his Interests and an Italian to whom hom the future of I this Franco Anglo no American continent I might Else e seemed immaterial left e and with Ith no remuneration whatsoever er started upon his career as a gentleman spy py He lie tool with Ith him a single servant sen ant and made for Sin In cennes His Ills one chance to accomplish his mission depended upon the follo following Ing of events e lIe He must b be taken prisoner prevail prisoner prevail upon his savage raptors not to scalp him appear him appear be before before before fore manage manage to old avoid not only lm or execution but even een expulsion linger on In seeing e eer er tiling thing In the fort an and eer everybody body In the then settlement settlement then make good his escape Not an easy p p-o p o ram but one which he lie followed ell accor according to plans an and schell sched schedule ule For Por Sign Igo succeeded In doing just as he had planned lIes He lIe wis s captured by ty brought safely to Fort rort Sackville at questioned by II succeeded In allaying alia alln Ing the British general generI s suspicions enough so that Hamilton allowed e him to depart rt after atter he hid had been at atS at S for some ome time Ulon upon his signing a pledge that he lie would ull return to St I J outs without doing anything thing Injurious to British h Interests Sigo I o scrupulous kept hl his lils pledge by returning to SL ct SLI StI louis I after which he bo Immediately for and made the report to Clark on the condition of the garrison ou at which determined s decision to march against that post But this sp spring Ing trip of S Igo's was a not his only contribution to the success of Clark s expedition In fact It was fiS the tho least of It for far more Important was as his financial help which the expedition po possible During the summer of 1778 Clark had Ind only currency which was as no good with Ith the I r rench merchants of that town for the purchase of supplies until S Igo 1 induced Induce them to It How ow Clark dark was again In need of money to money to pay his lils men to buy bu arms and supplies Again S Igo Mme line to his lils result rescue On December 4 he ho cashed a drift draft of ot Clark Clarh s on Oliver Pollock the agent it t New l Or Orleans Orleans Orleans leans for more than tinn an and on rf S 8 She lie he shed c another for nearly 1 1 GOO rort Forti eight hours later and his party of rapidly equipped with Ith S Igo s cash and In the supplies were eastbound thoun writes A long time would pass lass before the gallant colonel beheld I I s letter explaining e his refusal to extend further credit to the Americans How Ilow Colonel lark a and nd the f State tn te of ot expect such Y heasy sums to be he paid by men without money Is IsI Isa isa Isa I a m mystery which only time can point out It Is the quintessence of Irony that the n agent s sletter sletter letter was wis ts 1 written Itten on the very ery same day when when hen S Igo the stranger was turning 0 over oser er hl his entire as an unprotected unregistered ted loan which he lie ne newer never er could collect If Clark Cllrk and ailed ind which he lie never did collect e esen een en though dark Clark by winning a sl 51 h annexed an empire nor For r as every American 1 knows no S dark Clark did win In its lis skirmish at nt a skirmish which en ended In the surrender of I r ort by Iton to the S leader on I 2 1 1770 ij and the capture of this post strengthened the hand of the peace pence commissioners at atthe atthe atthe the close cloe of the He Revolution Resolution In demanding that the western estern boundary of the new Republic should be the Mississippi river rl of the Allegheny mountains But nut how many Americans 1 l now no what hat was the re reward ard of ot Sigo Igo for Cor his services In mat mal Ing tint p possible or what was his hia later career It Is not a story of at which we e es is s a nation can fer very well be proud After the Pe revolution I S igo o made his home at S lIe He continued to pro l provide e money nione mone to American credit In the newly won on wilderness Il erness lie He tried to build up a series cerles of trading posts ind protected trade routes bet between een Philadelphia Detroit and New l Orleans that th would bind the Indians to the American ID cause Ills IUs extensive loins loans finally led to finan vial for the rich Spanish J nt merch nn and his plan for the trading posts and trade routes was defeated by Inertia and Ineptness in deiling dealing with the In Indians When he tried to get back some of ot the money which ho he had lent Clark ind others a penurious and sus suspicious federal gO government refused to honor hi his claims despite the fact tint dark Clark mado full act nole now no le gement of the justice of ot the lie claims In letters letter to 11 Henry rhomas Thomas J Jefferson and to George Mason Mison To S rime cime William Henry Harrison first gO governor of the tho territory who ho became Ijo J frIend 1 later while the wis lS his claims the government gO n Harrl on then President used hIs Ills Influence unsuccessfully fully albeit to get them paid To fo S In 1834 came the noto noted traveler prince of ot SS Wied led who ho wrote In his journal Another Interesting character 11 uses es here but hut forgotten neglected and In great greit pos PO erly I mean Colonel who alto ho re rendered ered I po tant Americans l ne Colonel but suffer gase e him the rank of now noss starve him to In 1876 the S Igo claims totaling 40 SOS CO were ere paid by the government oH to the second gen en of his lils In la laws las s But nut the payment ment hll had come Just 40 years too late t to 01 ive Francis S M ilo from repeating the Ule words which hind had become his I drain In the long evening of his last drays ys d p per er body has forgotten me e me me everybody lie He died on March 2 22 2 IS C and this once wealthy Spanish mel possessed at that time ex elusive of his Ills credit I upon the 0 ov exactly ii Indiana remembered him to the extent of nam namIn In lug n a county alter after him 1 the he bronze voice solve olce of a abell abell bell which lie he gIn gave gale e to Isis Ills fellow citizens of Indiana soun sounds every day da from the courthouse o of S Ibo county at lit Terre haute to recall his ory and over oer a I 1 I In the cemetery tt it it S 5 the Daughters of the American hero lution hive ht reeled erected i t memorial which tells that here lies lIs Francis Igo patriot whose hose Ile to the tine cause of American liberty ma made the capture of Fort b O C by w Ni CLoa Lr oa rr d |