Happy Birthday "Uncle Sam"
September 7, 1813
Samuel Wilson stamped all of the barrels "U.S." for the United States. Our time tested clever soldiers began referring to the arrival of Wilson's barrels of beef as "Uncle Sam's." A newspaper reported the story and soon thereafter Uncle Sam gained notoriety and acceptance, the rest is history.
Samuel Wilson died in 1854 at age 88 and buried in Troy, New York. The town calls itself "The home of Uncle Sam."
In 1860 Political cartoonist, Thomas Nast began to popularize the image of Uncle Sam. Nast gave Uncle Sam the white beard and stars-and-stripes suit. Thomas Nast is also credited with developing the image of Santa Claus, the donkey for the Democratic Party, and the elephant symbol for the Republican Party. Thomas Nast (1840-1902) is considered the "Father of the American Cartoon."
The most popular image of Uncle Sam was created by James Montgomery Flagg. In 1917, Flagg created the recruitment poster for the United States Army during World War I. The poster was inspired by a 1914 British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose.
In between the caption "Britons: Lord Kitchener Wants You. Join Your Country's Army! God save the King" was the image of Lord Kitchener. Kitchener was given the title Secretary of War and was responsible for recruiting a large army to fight the Germans. Over three million men joined the army.
The 1914 British recruitment poster inspired the creation of many other posters featuring the subject pointing a finger at the viewer. A popular United States poster of Smokey Bear using the famous gesture made an appearance in 1985 with the caption "ONLY YOU." The "Only You" refers to his famous quotation, "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires."
Smokey Bear and his message debuted in 1944. The first poster did not have Smokey pointing his finger at the viewer.
In James Montgomery Flagg's 1917 poster, Uncle Sam is pointing at the viewer above the caption "I Want YOU for U. S. Army." Four million of those posters were circulated during WWI and made the rounds again for WWII.
James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960) used his own likeness to create Uncle Sam, adding age and the white goatee. He stated he simply wanted to avoid the trouble of arranging for a model. James Montgomery Flagg was born in Pelham Manor, New York and died at age 89 in New York City.
In 1961, the United States Congress recognized Samuel Wilson as "the progenitor of America's national symbol of Uncle Sam."
For more images, visit an AmericanAngle.blogspot.com
Sources:
1. www.history.com
2. www.wikipedia.com
3. www.americanangle.blogspot.com
Published by Tony Jingo
An American Patriot with an independent view on today's topics. Jingo (noun) One who vociferously supports one's country View profile
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21 Comments
Post a CommentI never knew this. Very interesting!
I certainly didn't know this story. Thanks, Tony. This article is fun to read and informative. You are a star CP.
I didn't know the history of "Uncle Sam". Thanks for a great and informative article!
Cool article!
This is such an interesting article. I love how Uncle Sam got his name.
Very interesting piece of history! Great job on this.
He's my favorite uncle for sure, for sure!
Excellent read! 5 zillion stars!
Enjoyed!! Great article! :-)
Great article, Tony! I'm a day late on reading this - but the page formatting problem is still there. I knew Uncle Sam was old, but didn't realize he was THAT old.