Uncle Sam

Last week I had to go to Albany for work, so Tom & I went up the night before and stayed in Troy, NY, which is just outside Albany on the Hudson River. (We wanted to check out the waterfront & marinas.)

While driving around Troy, we noticed lots of references to Uncle Sam, including a large Uncle Sam statue. It seems that Troy, NY was the home of one Sam Wilson, a butcher who supplied barrels of meat for the US troops during the War of 1812. He stamped those barrels with the letters U S, meaning that the meat was destined for the front. However, many of the soldiers fighting in that war were from the Troy area, and knew Mr. Sam Wilson personally, and began saying the US initials stood for Uncle Sam. Sam Wilson thus became the personification of the United States. In the 1960's, the US Congress passed a resolution declaring that Troy, NY was the birthplace and home of Uncle Sam.

And to think I hated history in school......