Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-02-21

Italians who have had an important
part In making American history, how
t. many would there be? Christopher
Columbus, of course, would head the
M & list, and after him would come Amer
igo Vespucci, for whom America was
NX& named. and John and Sebastian Cabot,
k6Q who were Italians even though they
did sail under the banner of England
- In the era of discovery. You'd prob
ably include Henri de Tonti, the MAN With the
Iron Hand" companion In arms of the great
French explorer, La Sale.
But 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; Kosciuscko and Pulaski, the Poles; and
Won Steuben, the German-all of whom fit that
description. But how many of them know about
Francesca vigo. the Italian7
He was a soldier, banker, spy, patriot, diplo-
mat and merchant prince; he labored nightly
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
toned.
II this is true, why is vigo so little known to
most Americans? Because he is one Of those
forgotten heroes" who by some strange turn
of fate have been denied the fame that Is right
fully theirs. But fortunately for Vigo's fame, a
fellow-countryman, who won renown a few years
ago by excavating the buried Roman city Of
Leptis Magma In northern Africa, has turned his
talents from archaeology to biography and the
result Is the first full-length portrait of this
little-known hero of the American Revolution
the book "vigo: A Forgotten Builder of the
American Republic" by Bruno Roselli, published
by the Stratford company of Boston.
1t is especially appropriate to examine this
portrait" at this time, for February Is will
mark the one hundred ~ffty-ifth anniversary Of
the capture Of Vincennes by George Rogers
Clark, one of the outstanding achievements Of
the struggle for liberty because of its later re-
suits. Without the aid of Francesca vigo, George
Rogers Clark might not have won that splendid
victory, nor from 1t have come those important
results.
Most of the school histories mention Vigos
name, but they assign him a minor role In the
story of Clark's conquest of the Old Northwest.
But Mr.. Roselli has revised that view of him. OF
his early life, this much can be said: He was
born at Mondovi, Italy, on December 9, 1747.
Early In life the spirit Of wanderlust seized him
and he ran way from home, eventually arriving
In 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 q year there was sent to
New Orleans, where we find him listed as a
"fusilero' In the militia of that colony. Next
- --~-~~ -.~-Ao- "a A - - -u~-.lr-
troops and by some means made his way up the
Mississippi 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 1852.
The post was small and presently the two
men came face to face" writes Roselll. '"They
fully understood their mutual needs, and, while
starting from the opposite ends of the social
ladder, they had the wisdom 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 is largely re-
sponsible for later error In regard to his ma
~tionality.
BY the time George Rogers Clark appeared on
the scene vigo was rated as one of the wealth
lest men In that part Of the country with agen-
cies for his fur-trading business In Kaskaskia,
vlncennes and as far north as Mackinac. The
story of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia in 1878 is
too familiar to need recountlng here, but Vigo's
part In the capture OF Vlncennes. the next step
In Clark's ambitious plan to wrest the Old North
west from the British, is not 80 well known.
Clark realized that until the British we're driy.