What passes as Uncle Sam.

Old Uncle Sam come there to change
Some pancakes and some onions,
For 'lasses cakes, to carry home
To give his wife and young ones

As the sweet legend would have it;- Samuel Wilson was a meat packer in Troy, New York, who supplied rations for the soldiers during the War of 1812. They had to stamp their contractors name and where the rations were coming from, onto the food they were sending. On the package, it was labeled "E.A - US." When someone asked what that stood for, a coworker joked and said "Elbert Anderson (the contractor) and Uncle Sam," referring to Sam Wilson, though it actually stood for United States.