This Day in History:, United States
Nicknamed Uncle Sam.
September 7, 1813.
The nickname goes back
to the War of 1812. It's linked to a
NY meatpacker named Samuel
Wilson. He supplied the U.S. Army with beef.
Wilson stamped his food barrels "U.S.,"
and soldiers began referring to his products as "Uncle Sam's.".
The name caught the attention of media
and stuck as a representation of the
federal government.
Political cartoonist Thomas Nash
was the first to draw Uncle Sam with
the stars and stripes suite and white beard.
The most famous image of Uncle Sam,
captioned by, "I Want You For The U.S. Army,”
was the work of artist James Montgomery Flagg.
Congress finally declared
Samuel Wilson as “the progenitor
of America’s national symbol
of Uncle Sam,” in 1961