Uncle Sam

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

According to legend, the character came into use during the War of 1812 and may have been named after Samuel Wilson, but the true origin is obscure. The first reference to Uncle Sam in formal literature (as distinct from newspapers) was in the 1816 allegorical book The Adventures of Uncle Sam, in Search After His Lost Honor. An 1810 edition of Niles' Weekly Register has a footnote defining Uncle Sam as 'a cant term in the army for the United States.' Presumably, it came from the abbreviation of the United States of America: U.S. A March 24, 1810, journal entry by Isaac Mayo (a midshipman in the US Navy) states: 'weighed anchor stood down the harbor, passed Sandy Hook, where there are two light-houses, and put to sea, first and the second day out most deadly stomach ache, oh could I have got onshore in the hight [sic] of it, I swear that uncle Sam, as they call him, would certainly forever have lost the services of at least one sailor.' The popular legend is that the name 'Uncle Sam' was derived from Samuel Wilson, a meatpacker from Arlington, Massachusetts who later moved to Troy, New York, and supplied rations for American soldiers during the War of 1812. Wilson's packages were labeled 'E.A.—U.S.' When someone asked what that stood for, a co-worker jokingly said, 'Elbert Anderson [the contractor] and Uncle Sam,' referring to Wilson, though the U.S. actually stood for 'United States.' Doubts have been raised as to the authenticity of this story, as the claim did not appear in print until 1842. Additionally, the earliest known mention definitely referring to the metaphorical Uncle Sam is from 1810, predating Wilson's contract with the government.

Reader's Guide

Uncle Sam's significance lies in his evolution from a vague cant term into a standardized national icon. In 1835, Brother Jonathan made a reference to Uncle Sam, implying that they symbolized different things: Brother Jonathan was the country itself, while Uncle Sam was the government and its power. A clockmaker in an 1849 comedic novel explains 'we call...the American public Uncle Sam, as you call the British John Bull.' By the 1850s, the names Brother Jonathan and Uncle Sam were being used nearly interchangeably, to the point that images of what had previously been called 'Brother Jonathan' were being called 'Uncle Sam.' Their appearances varied wildly—one depiction of Uncle Sam in 1860 showed him looking like Benjamin Franklin, while a contemporaneous depiction of Brother Jonathan looks more like the modern version of Uncle Sam, though without a goatee. An 1893 article in The Lutheran Witness claims Uncle Sam was simply another name for Brother Jonathan: 'When we meet him in politics we call him Uncle Sam; when we meet him in society we call him Brother Jonathan.' Uncle Sam did not get a standard appearance until the well-known recruitment image was first created by James Montgomery Flagg during World War I. The image was inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose. Flagg's depiction shows an elderly white man with white hair and a goatee, wearing a white top hat with white stars on a blue band, a red bowtie, a blue tail coat, and red-and-white-striped trousers. Flagg's image was shown publicly for the first time, according to some, on the cover of the magazine Leslie's Weekly on July 6, 1916, with the caption 'What Are You Doing for Preparedness?' More than four million copies of this image were printed between 1917 and 1918. Flagg's image was also used extensively during World War II, during which the US was codenamed 'Samland' by the German intelligence agency Abwehr. In 1989, a Congressional joint resolution designated September 13, 1989, as 'Uncle Sam Day,' the birthday of Samuel Wilson.

Did You Know?

• The first reference to Uncle Sam in formal literature was in the 1816 allegorical book The Adventures of Uncle Sam, in Search After His Lost Honor.
• An 1810 edition of Niles' Weekly Register defined Uncle Sam as 'a cant term in the army for the United States,' presumably from the abbreviation U.S.
• More than four million copies of James Montgomery Flagg's 1917 'I Want You' poster were printed between 1917 and 1918.
• During World War II, the US was codenamed 'Samland' by the German intelligence agency Abwehr.
• A Congressional joint resolution designated September 13, 1989, as 'Uncle Sam Day,' the birthday of Samuel Wilson.