On or around this day in 1747, a little-known American hero is born in Italy. Francis Vigo was a Revolutionary War spy and financier who also helped to found Jefferson Academy (modern-day Vincennes University).
“No man, next to George Rogers Clark, did as much as Francis Vigo to win the old Northwest Territory,” Italian historian Giovanni Ermenegildo Schiavo concludes. “In some respects, he did even more than Clark himself.”
Not much is known about Vigo’s early years—even the exact date of his birthday is in question. Nevertheless, it’s known that he joined a Spanish regiment, first traveling with that regiment to New Orleans, then moving to St. Louis where he established himself as a fur trader.
Vigo soon crossed paths with George Rogers Clark, the highest-ranking military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolution. Clark was then working to defeat the British in places such as Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Detroit.
When Clark arrived at Kaskaskia, near St. Louis, in July 1778, he lacked supplies and had only about 150 men. Local merchants such as Vigo decided to help Clark, but Vigo was among the most generous with his time and his resources.
Indeed, by December 1778, Vigo was traveling to Vincennes on a mission for Clark when he was captured by American Indians. They took him to Vincennes, which had been seized by the British. Vigo was held there for a few weeks but ultimately released. The British couldn’t detain him because of his affiliation with Spain. Nevertheless, they made him agree that he would go back to St. Louis without harming the British cause.
Vigo found a loophole in that agreement, of course.
“Vigo complied with the letter, if not the spirit, of this agreement by first returning to St. Louis before starting out for Kaskaskia to report to Clark,” the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park website reports. “Arriving on January 29, 1779, he provided Clark with valuable detailed information on the situation at Vincennes.”
But what was that information?
The British planned to stay at Vincennes for the winter, and they did not expect reinforcements until the spring. Once the worst of the winter weather had lifted, they planned to launch a surprise attack on Clark. As Vigo relayed this information, Clark saw his opportunity: If he dared to make the dangerous winter trek to Vincennes, he could launch a surprise attack himself, rather than waiting around for the British to attack him.
That’s exactly what Clark did, of course. The British surrendered the fort there on February 25, 1779.
Clark was grateful for Vigo’s intelligence, writing that “we got Every Information from [Vigo] that we could wish for as he had had good opportunities and had taken great pains to inform himself . . . .”
Vigo helped the war effort in other ways, too, such as financing Clark’s failed attempt to take Detroit. He was never repaid during his lifetime.
After the war, Vigo lived in Vincennes as a fur trader, and he was among those who helped to establish modern-day Vincennes University. He was a colonel in the militia, and he helped General Anthony Wayne. Moreover, he was available when George Washington asked for help: The British were trying to incite American Indian tribes against the new United States, but Vigo helped to calm the situation down.
Unfortunately, Vigo’s fur trading business began to decline, and he was destitute when he passed away in 1836. His estate was eventually paid back for some of the sums Vigo had expended on the war—but not until 1876!
Perhaps today is a good day to remember Vigo, yet another of the nearly forgotten Patriots who gave so much that we might be free.
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Primary Sources:
A.B. McKee, Colonel Francis Vigo (Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History; Dec. 1923)
Dorothy Riker, Francis Vigo (Indiana Magazine of History; March 1930)
George Rogers Clark National Historical Park: Francis Vigo (National Park Service website)
Giovanni Ermenegildo Schiavo, Four Centuries of Italian-American History (1952) (Ch. 8: Colonel Francis Vigo and the Conquest of the Northwest, is reprinted HERE.)
H.C. Bradsby, History of Vigo County, Indiana, with biographical selections (1891)
Revolutionary War Biography: Francis Vigo (American Battlefield Trust)
Ross Franklin Lockridge, George Rogers Clark, Pioneer Hero of the Old Northwest (1927)
United States v. McKee et al., 91 U.S. 442 (1876)
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