Note 1508 — Chapter IX

Gov. Reynolds (Pioneer History, p. 101, ed. 1887) says Col. Vigo was sent to Vincennes by Clark as a spy; that he was captured by the Indians and taken to Hamilton, who suspected the character of his mission; and that he was released on the ground of his being a Spanish subject, and having influential friends among the French residents. Hamilton in his report makes no mention of Vigo by name, but says that men were stationed at the mouth of the Wabash to intercept boats on the Ohio; and that they at different times brought in prisoners and prevented intelligence being carried from Vincennes to the Illinois, "till the desertion of a corporal and six men from La Mothe's company, in the latter end of January, who gave the first intelligence to Col. Clark of our arrival." In Reynolds's Pion. Hist. p. 423, is a biographical sketch of Col. Vigo, by H. W. Beckwith, and a portrait. See also Law's History of Vincennes, pp. 28-30. Vigo helped Clark by cashing his drafts, and the story of a consequent suit for recovery of the money, which did not end till 1876 in the U. S. Supreme Court, is told by C. C. Baldwin in the Mag. of West. Hist., Jan., 1885, p. 230.—Ed.