The War in the Northwest 221 



He next wrestled steadily, but much less success- 

 fully, with the financial question. He attempted to 

 establish a land bank, as it were, setting aside a 

 great tract of land to secure certain issues of Con- 

 tinental money. The scheme failed, and in spite 

 of his public assurance that the Continental cur- 

 rency would shortly be equal in value to gold and 

 silver, it swiftly sank until it was not worth two 

 cents on the dollar. 



This wretched and worthless paper-money, which 

 the Americans brought with them, was a perfect 

 curse to the country. Its rapid depreciation made 

 it almost impossible to pay the troops, or to secure 

 them supplies, and as a consequence they became dis- 

 orderly and mutinous. Two or three prominent 

 Creoles, who were devoted adherents of the Ameri- 

 can cause, made loans of silver to the Virginian 

 Government, as represented by Clark, thereby help- 

 ing him materially in the prosecution of his cam- 

 paign. Chief among these public-spirited patriots 

 were Francis Vigo, and the priest Gibault, both of 

 them already honorably mentioned. Vigo advanced 

 nearly nine thousand dollars in specie, piastres or 

 Spanish milled dollars, receiving in return bills 

 on the "Agent of Virginia," which came back pro- 

 tested for want of funds; and neither he nor his 

 heirs ever got a dollar of what was due them. He 

 did even more. The Creoles at first refused to re- 

 ceive anything but peltries or silver for their goods ; 

 they would have nothing to do with the paper, and 

 to all explanations as to its uses, simply answered 



