No one really knows when Uncle Sam Day started getting recognized and celebrated as a holiday, but we do know why it’s celebrated on September 13th. It’s celebrated on this day because this is when a local newspaper picked up on the nickname for the U.S “Uncle Sam” and ran a story about it. Eventually, the story was circulated all over the U.S., and people from coast to coast started referring to the U.S as their Uncle Sam.
But why did the U.S get the name in the first place? Well, it all has to do with a meat packer named Samuel Wilson. He ran a business out of Troy, New York that was supplying the U.S Army with barrels of beef during the War of 1812. He stamped the barrels with the initials “U.S” for the United States, but soldiers began calling the barrels of food as Uncle Sam’s beef. And once the local paper caught wind of it, this nickname was spread far and wide.