Who Was Uncle Sam?
Where did the popular idiom come from?
Uncle Sam is the personification of the federal government or the nation as a whole. We are all familiar with this idiom. But where did the name Uncle Sam come from? The story is interesting.
Samuel Wilson joined the Continental Army in 1781 at the age of 15. His duties were not glamorous and included guarding cattle, mending fences, and slaughtering and packaging beef. Although not glamorous work, these responsibilities were important to the war effort.
British soldiers would target food and water sources in an effort to tamper and poison the colonial armies. His service in the Continental Army seems to have only lasted six or seven months and ended with the surrender of General Cornwallis in October of 1781.
Samuel and his brother, Ebeneezer, settled in Troy, New York, in 1789 and began several successful businesses over the next years. In 1793, they began the E & S Wilson Company, a slaughterhouse located at the end of Ferry Street, right on the docks on the Hudson River.
The Wilsons were well known in the area. Samuel was known for his fairness, reliability, and honesty. Over the years, he became known as Uncle Sam to locals.
Twenty years later, the nation again became embroiled in war, the War of 1812. Soldiers need…
