Uncle Sam dates back from the War of 1812. There was a man named Samuel Wilson

Samuel Wilson was born in Arlington, Mass., on September 13, 1766. His childhood home was spent in Mason, New Hampshire.

In 1789, he and his brother Ebenezer walked to Troy, New York, where they later started the business called "E. & S. Wilson", which was a meat packing company. Samuel Wilson died in 1854, buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.

Samuel Wilson was known locally as "Uncle" Sam.

Anyway they got a contract with the Army to supply meats.

Now in that time, meat was packed in barrels, the Army barrels, had "U.S." marked on the sides.

Troy folks associated the barrels with "Uncle Sam", who they knew was providing meat to the army.

Cartoon versions of Sam were very common than, later, about the time of the Civil War. the "Uncle Sam" became associated with Abraham Lincoln and acquired a beard and was shown as older.

He was like a kinder, gentler, Big Brother. Uncle Sam's role was more like an unofficial uncle, not a monarch or any other kind of ruler.

Nor was "Uncle Sam" father or authority figure. He protected and maintained, but he did not rule or punish. Just a cool dude.

Uncle Sam's traditional look, with a white goatee and star-spangled suit, is a creation of cartoonists.

Thomas Nast, a 19th century political cartoonist, made some of the earliest cartoons of Uncle Sam along with his Yankee Doodle and Brother Jonathan characters

There was also a 19th-century comic named Dan Rice, who wore a hat and star-spangled suit, a lot like Uncle Sam's.

And of course the 1917 World War I. Army recruiting poster painted by James Montgomery Flagg in 1916-1917.

Yes, that one "I Want You". Uncle Sam was eventually officially adopted by the government in 1950.