10 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know as an American

Uncle Sam was real

Its real name was Samuel Wilson who worked as a meat-packer in Troy, N.Y. and became the official meat inspector for the northern army in the War of 1812. “When Wilson started providing and inspecting meat for the troops during the War of 1812, the troops from Troy would joke that the “U.S.” label on the meat barrels actually stood for Uncle Sam.

This idea was eventually expanded to all United States military items with “U.S.” and so Uncle Sam became the figurehead of American might.”