Salute to Uncle Sam
July 2, 2010 by Dave Tipton · Leave a Comment
The Story of Our Real Live Uncle Sam
For close to 200 years the U.S. government as a whole had been known as “Uncle Sam”, but where did the name come from?
You might assume that the original Uncle Sam was a well known political figure, but the man himself had more to do with food than politics. Most history experts trace the origin back to Sam Wilson, the owner of a Troy, N.Y. meat packing plant that supplied meat to U.S. troops during the War of 1812. Wilson was born in 1766 near Arlington, Massachusetts and was a middle child of 13 children in very patriotic family.
Sam Wilson was said to be very jovial and beloved and was called Uncle Sam by his many nieces and nephews as well as many who new him.
Wilson’s job as a butcher and meat packer played a huge role in creating the Uncle Sam persona. During that time period the United States was abbreviated as “U. States” so consequently, all of the meat barrels that Sam Wilson inspected were simply marked U.S. People were confused and workers joked that it stood for Uncle Sam. Soldiers began calling themselves “Uncle Sam’s Army” and their rations Uncle Sam’s Meat”. Soon all government property stamped U.S. became Uncle Sam’s.
A cartoon figure of Uncle Sam originated in the 1830’s in a political cartoon. He was a clean shaven gentleman, decked out in a red, white and blue suit. Neither Sam Wilson nor the original cartoon character had beards. The top hat and beard were added around the Civil War and many believe that Abraham Lincoln was the inspiration.
The well-known “recruitment” image of Uncle Sam was created by James M. Flagg, an illustrator and portrait artist best known for his commercial art. The image of Uncle Sam was shown publicly for the first time, in a picture by Flagg on the cover of the magazine Leslie’s Weekly that came out on July 6, 1916. Millions of copies of this image were printed between 1917 and 1918 and Uncle Sam’s image was used extensively during World War II from recruiting to War Bond sales.
This depiction of Uncle Sam was adopted by Congress as a national symbol in 1961.
Have a great 4th of July from Florida’s Beautiful Homes.
