During the War of 1812, Sam Wilson had a contract to supply meat to the United States military. Meat was salt cured and shipped in wooden barrels stamped with the initals "U. S." to mean the United States. Prior to this using the initials "U. S." instead of United States had not been done before. Troops, seeing the barrels with the abbreviation often asked what it meant. Jokingly, someone related that the initials stood for Uncle Sam Wilson. The joke caught on and spread like wildfire. People began referring to anything that belonged to the government as being owned by Uncle Sam. Soon "Uncle Sam" started appearing in political cartoons and newspaper editorials. The first Uncle Sam drawings made him appear clean shaven and dressed in black. During the Civil War, Thomas Nast drew him as wearing red, white and blue clothes appearing like the United States flag and a beard.
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