{UAH} Who Was Uncle Sam?

Who Was Uncle Sam?

Where did the popular idiom come from?

Uncle Sam & Samuel Wilson (Wikimedia Commons)

Uncle Sam is the personification of the federal government or the nation as a whole. We are all familiar with this idiom. But where did the name Uncle Sam come from? The story is interesting.

Samuel Wilson joined the Continental Army in 1781 at the age of 15. His duties were not glamorous and included guarding cattle, mending fences, and slaughtering and packaging beef. Although not glamorous work, these responsibilities were important to the war effort.

British soldiers would target food and water sources in an effort to tamper and poison the colonial armies. His service in the Continental Army seems to have only lasted six or seven months and ended with the surrender of General Cornwallis in October of 1781.

Samuel and his brother, Ebeneezer, settled in Troy, New York, in 1789 and began several successful businesses over the next years. In 1793, they began the E & S Wilson Company, a slaughterhouse located at the end of Ferry Street, right on the docks on the Hudson River.

The Wilsons were well known in the area. Samuel was known for his fairness, reliability, and honesty. Over the years, he became known as Uncle Sam to locals.

Twenty years later, the nation again became embroiled in war, the War of 1812. Soldiers need food, clothing, supplies, and munitions. Elbert Anderson Jr. of New York City was contracted by the federal government to supply and issue all rations.

Their location on the river was ideal and was central to the success of their business. The Wilsons were able to garner a contract with the federal government to supply pork and beef to soldiers in the area of Troy.

They supplied the meat to a camp of 6,000 soldiers stationed in nearby Greenbush, New York. Sam was responsible for inspecting the meat and its packaging to ensure that the soldiers were supplied with proper supplies.

Many of the soldiers in the camp were from the Troy area and knew Samuel Wilson and his meat-packing business. The meat was stamped "E.A. — U.S." The soldiers made the assumption that the U.S. portion of the stamp meant the meat was from Uncle Sam Wilson. A local newspaper picked up the story and it grew from there.

Uncle Sam, 1917 (Wikimedia Commons)

Soon soldiers from other areas who did not know Samuel Wilson also began sharing the stories. Everything supplied to the government for the war effort was stamped "U.S." and the assumption that Uncle Sam was the supplier stuck. It did not take long before the Uncle Sam identifier grew to refer to the nation and not just the supplier of meat and supplies.

This is a fun and believable story. But there is no proof. There is some evidence that the Uncle Sam moniker existed prior to Sam Wilson. The popular song, Yankee Doodle, published in 1775, contains a reference to Uncle Sam in the 13th stanza. However, it is not clear whether this reference is to Uncle Sam as a metaphor for the United States, or to an actual person named Sam. Again, no proof.

Old Uncle Sam come there to change
Some pancakes and some onions,
For 'lasses cakes, to carry home
To give his wife and young ones.

The most famous likeness of Uncle Sam was painted by J.M. Flagg for the 1917 poster to garner recruits for the World War I effort in Europe.

Samuel Wilson statue in Arlington, Massachusetts (Wikipedia)

While Samuel Wilson may or may not have been the original "Uncle Sam", the 87th United States Congress adopted the following resolution on September 15, 1961:

Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America's National symbol of Uncle Sam.

In 1989, "Uncle Sam Day" became official. A joint resolution of Congress designated September 13, as "Uncle Sam Day", the birthday of Samuel Wilson.

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