The above passage was quoted early in 1815 by Hezekiah Niles, who appended this note: "U.S. or Uncle Sam—a cant term in the army for the United States."[66]
In the Columbian Centinel of June 21, 1815, appeared the following:
A District Paymaster of the U.S. residing in N.Y. by the name of Whittleby has advertised having been robbed of Thirty Thousand dollars of Uncle Sam's money intended to pay the militia. It was in his Portmanteau, which some how or other, and somewhere or other, was cut open, and the money all rifled! The pay-master having a bad memory, could not recollect the denominations of bills; and forgot to offer a reward for the detection of the 'nefarious and daring wretch'" (p. 2-2).
Uncle Sam apparently made his first appearance in verse in a song called "Siege of Plattsburg, Sung at the Theatre, in Albany in the character of a Black Sailor. Tune—'Boyn Water.'" There are four stanzas, the first as follows:
"Back side Albany stan' lake Champlain,
One little pond, haf full a' water
Plat-te-bug dare too, close pon de main,
Town small—he grow bigger do herearter.
On lake Champlain,
Uncle Sam set he boat,
And Massa M'Donough, he sail 'em;
While Gen'ral M'Comb
Make Plat-te-bug he home,
Wid de army, who courage nebber fail 'em."[67]
At this point, let us pause a moment and review the evidence—evidence which thus far has been drawn wholly from the newspapers. The term Uncle Sam is first found in September, 1813, or when the war was half over, though even then it was alleged to have "got almost as current as 'John Bull.'"[68] While this statement may be true as regards the neighborhood of Greenbush,[69] at which place the camp was a rendezvous for the soldiers, it is not true of the country as a whole.[70] The term first appeared in papers published in cities or towns either in New York—as Troy, Lansingburgh, and Herkimer; or in Vermont—as Burlington and Windsor, In short, it arose exactly where one would expect it to arise—either in the neighborhood of Greenbush or along the Canadian frontiers where the fighting was done. Finally, there is one singular feature of the evidence. Every instance of Uncle Sam thus far given, except that in the "Siege of Plattsburg," is taken from a peace paper, while not once does the term occur in a war paper. It is not easy to see why the war papers should have avoided the term, and the fact that they did would seem to indicate that it was employed somewhat derisively by the peace men. Possibly the sobriquet was regarded as merely lacking in dignity. Or it may be, feeling running so high, that the mere fact of its being taken up by one party was sufficient to condemn it in the eyes of the other. But whatever the reason, the fact is striking, and is comparable to the avoidance of the word Yankee by the New Englanders previous to the battle of Lexington. Does not an absolute boycott point at least to a distaste? It should also be noted that by "Uncle Sam's men" were meant, at first, not soldiers but United States custom house officers.
Thus far, however, the term has been merely a colloquialism, found only in the newspapers. Let us now follow its progress in the literary language. Its first appearance in a book was in a political skit published in 1816, and written partly in Biblical phrase. Whose identity was concealed under the pseudonym of Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, the alleged author of The Adventures of Uncle Sam, I do not know. The book itself,[71] like James K. Paulding's Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan (published in 1812) and all similar skits, is modelled on Arbuthnot's Law is a Bottomless Pit—usually called the History of John Bull—published in 1712. In it we find not merely Uncle Sam, but Sam, Samuel, Samuelite, Uncle Samuel, and Uncle Samuel's Lady—meaning Congress. A few extracts follow:
"'What! another history of the war? We cannot be always reading' exclaims a Smoking Lounger, while he strikes his silver headed rattan against the door-post of the Bookseller. Softly, my friend, the work professes to be the Adventures of your own dear Uncle, if you are a native American, or of your Uncle-in-Law, if you are not. . . . Shall Amadis de Gaul, Don Quixote and Earl Strongbow, confer unfading glories on the respective countries which were the theatres of their exploits; and miser-like, pocket all the renown of romantic chivalry? Forbid it Uncle Sam, and all his sons! . . . In short, the learned Author, in imitation of high authorities, solicits the indulgence of the public:—1. With regard to the appearance of our common Uncle Sam. Although, he is old enough to be very whimsical, he is like the Author, a green character on the stage. . . . Behold said Thomas,[72] how mine Uncle Samuel hath fought in times past against John Bull and hath prevailed, nevertheless, he oweth at this time, many talents of silver. . . . The place chosen for the second attempt to innoculate the clownish Snowfieldians[73] with blessings of Liberty, was Queenston, a pleasant town separated from the dominions of Sam, by that frith of water which is known by the name of the St. Lawrence. . . . Now the man Proctor[74] the son of Belial of whom we have spoken had his evil heart stirred within him again to vex the sons of Samuel. And as his manner was he assembled again the wicked sons of Cain, and devised mischief against the small band of Samuelites which lay at Lower Sandusky. . . . It becomes us to notice a remarkable change in Uncle Sam's Lady. She has lately discarded all her former notions of parsimony and philosophic whims of economy, and has most graciously bestowed on herself a very splendid Salary, and whereas, formerly her family servants received only six dollars per diem, they now receive fifteen hundred, for each entertainment or levee she holds, to see company."[75]
It has already been noted that in books published in 1812 and 1814, Paulding did not employ the term Uncle Sam.[76] But in a work published in 1817 he wrote: