People of Interest - The Real Uncle Sam

Will the real Uncle Sam please stand up. That's right, today's post is going to tell you exactaly who Uncle Sam was, I'll give you a hint he wasn't the man in the funny hat. In 1961 Congress officially recognized Mr. Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York as the namesake to the Uncle Sam we know today. Wilson wasn't the tall, gray bearded man we generally associate with the Uncle Sam of "I want you!" posters but rather only an everyday meat packer.

It started during the War of 1812 when Sam Wilson was contracted to supply meat to the American soldiers. The barrels of meat were marked with the initials U.S., which stood for United States, however some of the people who saw the barrels didn't quite know what they stood for and it was joked that they stood for Uncle Sam. Now much of the military supplies at the time were marked with the U.S. initials and Sam Wilson handled many of them so over time his name became synonymous with the United States. Later, it would be Nast who would create the character that is so widely popular today, though others had drawn other Uncle Sams.

Now something interesting came up while researching Uncle Sam, and it was that before Uncle Sam was popularly used to characterize the United States, another person was widely used. His name was Brother Jonathan and during the early years of the country he would be found in political cartoons to indicate the United States. Just like Uncle Sam he was quite patriotic and dressed appropriately. He was used throughout the Civil War but his days were numbered as he soon fell under Uncle Sam's shadow.

So the next time you see good ol' Uncle Sam and his all American attire, think of Samuel Wilsonn the meat packer and how he helped feed the hungry troops of America.