This Day in History: United States Nicknamed Uncle Sam

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, “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