Who was the real Uncle Sam

As the personification of the American state, Uncle Sam is both adored and hated. In the familiar image of him, in his tall hat, dressed in the colors and shapes of the constellation, he is America’s hero who appears everywhere, from wartime propaganda leaflets to peacetime insurance advertisements. What is certain is that on tax day, all Americans hate Uncle Sam.

Few, however, know that Uncle Sam was once a real person.

The Story of the Real Unle Sam: The Man Who Gave His Name to the American State.

The man from whom the United States took its nickname on September 7, 1813 was named Sam Wilson and he was a butcher from Troy, New York.

When the War of 1812 broke out between the United States and Britain, the meat company that Wilson and his brother ran was chosen to supply the American soldiers in New York and New Jersey because it was located near a dock, which made it easy the transports.

Wilson contracted to feed these soldiers for an entire year and so sent about 2,000 barrels of pork and 3,000 barrels of beef. His men stamped each barrel with the words “E&S – U.S.,” indicating that the meat came from E&S Wilson of the United States.

Most of the barrels ended up in Greenbush, New York, where many of the 6,000 soldiers had grown up in Troy and knew Wilson. So when the meat arrived, many immediately made the connection with “Uncle Sam,” as he had come to be known in his native land.

Thus, the stamp “U.S.” on the barrels soon took on a double meaning for the soldiers, as it was considered short for both the United States and Uncle Sam.

But even on the docks of Troy, when passers-by asked what the “U.S.” seal meant, the sailors answered: It’s Uncle Sam that feeds the army.

The expression was widely circulated and soon, all supplies from the American government prevailed to be called “Uncle Sam’s”.

After the war, in 1816, one of the soldiers wrote the book “The Adventures of Uncle Sam: In Search After His Lost Honor”, using Uncle Sam for the first time in print as the personification of the United States.

“Uncle Sam offers you freedom and peace and all the happiness you can handle. Uncle Sam can meet all your needs and offers you the unique privilege of managing your affairs as you wish. Uncle Sam takes the bull by the horns. He is old enough to be very capricious, but he is not a coward,” she writes.

In the late 1860s and 1870s, political cartoonist Thomas Nast (the first to draw Santa Claus as we know him today but also to establish the donkey for the Democratic Party and the elephant for the Republican Party) began to popularize the picture of uncle sam She gave him a white beard and a stars and stripes suit, reminiscent of the American flag.

During World War I, artist James Montgomery Flagg designed the famous poster where Uncle Sam in a top hat and blue jacket points at Americans and says, “I want you for the U.S. Army,” as part of the effort recruitments.

In September the US Congress recognized Samuel Wilson as the man behind the national symbol of Uncle Sam. Wilson died at the age of 87 in 1854 and was buried next to his wife in Troy, the city called “Uncle Sam’s hometown.”