The True Story of Sam Wilson - Interesting US History

Facebook

Twitter

Digg

Stumbleupon

Yahoo My Web

A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

INTERESTING HISTORY NEWSLETTER

April 20, 2009

Sam Wilson

Sam Wilson was born September 13, 1766 in what is now Arlington, Massachusetts to parents who had emigrated from Scotland. On April 19, 1775, Sam’s father Edward was one of the 70 minutemen that the British encountered in their march to Concord. Young Sam was only eight years old.

In 1780, the Wilson family moved to Mason, NH where Sam learned brick making. The following year, when he was 15 he joined the Revolutionary army where he tended livestock and repaired fences. In 1789, Sam and his brother Ebenezer moved to Troy, New York and established a brick yard. Eventually they became well known and earned the respect of the citizens of the community. Sam’s generosity to the children of the community eventually earned him the nickname “Uncle Sam”.

The brothers’ success with the brick-yard eventually lead to a slaughtering business and during the War of 1812 they signed a contract to supply the U.S. troops with salted beef and pork. At the time, the meat was shipped packed in barrels and the workers would letter the barrels with the initials U.S. for United States. Using the initials wasn’t common at the time so people would occasionally ask what the U.S. stood for. One day, when one of the workers was asked, he joked that it stood for Uncle Sam.

Before long, the phrase began to appear in newspapers and eventually people began referring to government property as belonging to Uncle Sam. Yes, the Uncle Sam we have come to know as a symbol of our government was a real person.

Although Uncle Sam was a real person, the drawings of Uncle Sam never looked like Sam Wilson and they have changed over the years. In the early drawings he was clean-shaven and was dressed in black. Later he was dressed in the colors of the American flag. During the Civil War, cartoonist Thomas Nast made him gaunt and added a beard to make him look more like Abraham Lincoln. The most famous depiction of Uncle Sam, the one used on recruiting posters during World War I, was actually modeled on the artist who drew it, James Montgomery Flagg.

Mark Bowman

Click here to sign up for the Interesting History Newsletter

Home Page

On This Day

Interesting History Facts

◦

The Star Spangled Banner

◦

The Mayflower Beer Run

◦

Women in the Civil War

◦

The Gettysburg Address

◦

The First Submarine

◦

New York Dixie

◦

Interesting Civil War Facts

◦

Our Founding Fathers

◦

The War of 1812

◦

Sherrod Bryant

Interesting History Myths

◦	Myth: George Washington was the First President of the United States
◦	Myth: Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone
◦	Myth: Daniel Boone wore a coonskin cap
◦	Myth: Betsy Ross designed the first American flag
◦	Myth: Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
◦	Myth: Christopher Columbus discovered the earth is round
◦	Myth: Abraham Lincoln's childhood log cabin is on display in Hodgenville, Kentucky
◦	Myth: The Civil War was all about slavery
◦	Myth: In April of 1775, Paul Revere rode through the streets from Boston to Lexington yelling "The British Are Coming"
◦	Myth: The Pilgrims lived in log cabins
◦	Myth: During the Civil War, Lincoln once said about Grant's drinking: "If I knew what brand he used, I'd send every general a barrel"
◦	Myth: Charles Lindbergh was the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic
◦	Myth: George Washington fathered several children by his slaves
◦	Myth: The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Bunker Hill
◦	Myth: When Confederate president, Jefferson Davis was arrested after the Civil War, he was wearing his wife's clothes
◦	Myth: The Liberty Bell rang on July 4, 1776 in celebration of American independence
◦	Myth: The reason Germany got off to such a fast start in World War II was because of its pre-war preparations

Presidential Facts / Trivia

◦	Presidents Adams through Jackson (alphabetic)
◦	John Adams
◦	John Quincy Adams
◦	Chester Arthur
◦	James Buchanan
◦	George H.W. Bush
◦	George W. Bush
◦	Jimmy Carter
◦	Grover Cleveland
◦	Grover Cleveland (2nd term)
◦	William J. Clinton
◦	Calvin Coolidge
◦	Dwight Eisenhower
◦	Millard Fillmore
◦	Gerald Ford
◦	James Garfield
◦	Ulysses S. Grant
◦	Warren Harding
◦	Benjamin Harrison
◦	William Henry Harrison
◦	Rutherford B. Hayes
◦	Herbert Hoover
◦	Andrew Jackson
◦	Presidents Jefferson through Wilson (alphabetic)
◦	Thomas Jefferson
◦	Andrew Johnson
◦	Lyndon Johnson
◦	John F. Kennedy
◦	Abraham Lincoln
◦	James Madison
◦	William McKinley
◦	James Monroe
◦	Richard Nixon
◦	Barack Obama
◦	Franklin Pierce
◦	James Polk
◦	Ronald Reagan
◦	Franklin D. Roosevelt
◦	Theodore Roosevelt
◦	William H. Taft
◦	Zachary Taylor
◦	Harry Truman
◦	John Tyler
◦	Martin Van Buren
◦	George Washington
◦	Woodrow Wilson

Civil War Generals

Origin of Common Items

Accidental Inventions

History Quizzes

Newletter Archive

◦	Lincoln's Pocket Watch
◦	George Washington: The Man (part 1)
◦	George Washington: The Man (part 2)
◦	The True Story of Bass Reeves
◦	The True Story of Sam Wilson
◦	The Incredible Story of Sam Whittemore
◦	Julia and Hiram
◦	The Boston Massacre Lawyer
◦	Women in the American Civil War
◦	Beyond the Medal
◦	Jackson and Benton
◦	Arnold
◦	King and Colvin
◦	Stand Watie
◦	Carbine Williams
◦	George Read
◦	Newsletter Signup

Link Request

History Web Sites

Feedback

By purchasing history books or DVD's from the Interesting History web site, you are helping to cover the expenses and keep the website free for everyone. Thank you.