The term Uncle Sam is reputedly derived from Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York

Amazing and weird fact about Uncle Sam:

Did You Know? The term Uncle Sam is reputedly derived from Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied rations for the soldiers during the War of 1812. There was a requirement at the time for contractors to stamp their name and where the rations came from onto the food they were sending. Wilson’s packages were labeled “E.A – US”. Although intended to stand for “United States”, this caused some consternation because the more typical abbreviation at the time was “U. States”. Samuel was widely known by friends and business acquaintances as “Uncle Sam” for his genial character and sense of humor. Taking their cue from his reputation and the “U.S.” he stamped on meat casks, army troops began joking that their food came from “Uncle Sam” and calling themselves “Uncle Sam’s soldiers”. After the war, people started to associate “Uncle Sam” with anything related to the U.S. government.

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Uncle Sam didn’t get a standard appearance until the well-known “recruitment” image of Uncle Sam was created by James Montgomery Flagg (inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose). It was this image more than any other that set the appearance of Uncle Sam as the elderly man with white hair and a goatee wearing a white top hat with white stars on a blue band, a blue tail coat and red and white striped trousers.

In 1961 the U.S. Congress acknowledged what political cartoonists had known for years, that Uncle Sam was a national symbol. Congress passed a resolution saluting “Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America’s National symbol of Uncle Sam”.

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