The recruiting poster that made the War of 1812's Uncle Sam famous. COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
Uncle Sam has been an American symbol since the War of 1812. He actually has his roots in a real person, businessman Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York. During the war, Wilson had a contract to supply federal troops with salt beef, which was shipped in wooden casks. The casks were stamped with a large “U.S.” that stood for “United States.” The soldiers who received this salted beef joked that the “U.S” meant it was from “Uncle Sam,” which came to be a catchphrase for the federal government that we still use today.
Throughout the 1800s, Uncle Sam appeared as a character in newspaper political cartoons, often in opposition to his British equivalent Sam Bull.
In 1916, just before the involvement of the United States in World War I, artist James Montgomery Flagg created the Uncle Sam we know today. The craggy, tough, white-haired Uncle Sam with the patriotic top hat first appeared on recruiting posters.
Uncle Sam was officially adopted in 1961 as our national symbol — not bad for a character who got his start gracing shipments of salt beef.
