James Montgomery Flagg
Stovepipe-hatted, long-nosed and pointed - beard folk hero so symbolic of our great nation, Uncle Sam has been with us for more than 180 years. Along with companions Miss Columbia and the Statue of Liberty, he enjoys instant recognition around the world as America's spokesman. So much so that back in 1961 the US Congress made him our official emissary. Like the song Yankee Doodle, however, life began for him as anything but the patriotic and beloved embodiment of the United States.
Historians aren't completely certain how the character " Uncle Sam " was created, or who ( if anyone) he was named after. The prevailing theory is that Uncle Sam was named after Samuel Wilson.
Wilson was born in Arlington, Mass., on September 13, 1766. His childhood home was in Mason, New Hampshire. In 1789, he and his brother Ebenezer walked to Troy, New York.
During the War of 1812, Wilson was in the business of slaughtering and packing meat. He provided large shipments of meat to the US Army, in barrels that were stamped with the initials " U.S. ". Supposedly, someone who saw the " U.S. " stamps suggested-----perhaps as a joke----- that the initials stood for " Uncle Sam " Wilson. The suggestion that the meat shipment came from " Uncle Sam " led to the idea that Uncle Sam symbolized the federal government. Samuel Wilson died in 1854. His grave is in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.
Uncle Sam -- Super PatriotAuthor : Roy Nuhn
comic book
Uncle Sam's traditional appearance, with a white goatee and star-spangled suit, is an invention of artists and political cartoonists; Samuel Wilson did not look like the modern image of Uncle Sam. For example, Wilson was clean-shaven, while Uncle Sam is usually portrayed with a goatee.
Thomas Nast, a prominent 19th-century political cartoonist, produced many of the earliest cartoons of Uncle Sam. However, historians and collectors take note: Many of Nast's cartoons may appear to depict Uncle Sam, while in fact they depict Yankee Doodle or " Brother Jonathan. " It is easy to mistake Brother Jonathan cartoon for one of Uncle Sam, since both figures wear star-spangled suits of red, white and blue. As a rule, Brother Jonathan was drawn with a feather in his cap, while Uncle Sam was not; and Uncle Sam is nearly always drawn with a beard, while Brother Jonathan was clean-shaven.
During the War of 1812, newspapers used him as a contemptuous representative of Washington's inept wartime bureaucracy. His origins go back to the initials, " U>S> ", stamped on approved army supply containers and meat by inspectors. The first illustrations of an Uncle Sam figure, properly attired in a suit emblazoned with stars and stripes, were political satires in 1832. As time passed, Uncle Sam began gaining a reputation as being a savvy patriotic fellow. The old gent in the flag suit finally became popular in his own right during the last decades of the 19th century, thanks to the skills of the great American artist, Thomas Nast.
The final permanent characterization of Uncle Sam came at the hands of James Montgomery Flagg, a famous illustrator during the first quarter of the 20th century. It was his portrait of Uncle Sam, on a World War I recruiting poster, staring down into the eyes of the nation's young men and telling them " I Want You for the US Army ", that cast forever the image of America's favorite uncle.
I Want OUT2004
poster
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