WITH Conquest how his bosom burn'd!--
He _went_--he _saw_--and then--_return'd_."
[27] "Some of the _Wildcats_ of Congress," said the _Columbian
Centinel_ of June 6, 1812, "have gone home, unable to incur the awful
responsibility of unnecessary _War_" (p. 2-5).
[28] _Columbian Centinel_, October 23, 1813, p. 2-1; June 29, 1814, p.
2-3.
[29] _Columbian Centinel_, June 18, 1814, p. 2-3.
[30] _Columbian Centinel_, June 11, 1814, p. 2-4.
[31] _Columbian Centinel_, September 1, 1813, p. 2-1.
[32] Quoted in the supplement to the _Albany Gazette_ of November 19,
1812 (p. 1-1). The term was sometimes used attributively. Thus we
hear of "the War-Hawk Government" (_Columbian Centinel_, September
28, 1814, p. 1-2); of "the war-hawk party" (_Portsmouth Oracle_,
January 28, 1815, p. 3-2); of "the War-Hawk rulers" (_Columbian
Centinel_, September 28, 1814, p. 1-2); and of "our War-Hawk Selectmen"
(_Connecticut Courant_, August 16, 1814, p. 1-5).
[33] In a speech on the admission of the Territory of Orleans,
delivered in Congress on January 14, 1811, Josiah Quincy declared it
as his "deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, ... it will
be the duty of some" of the States "to prepare definitely for a
separation--amicably, if they can; violently, if they must" (Speeches,
1874, p. 196). While this remark has become historic, it is almost
invariably misquoted. In a speech made in Congress on January 8, 1813,
Henry Clay, referring to Quincy, said: "The gentleman can not have
forgotten his own sentiments, uttered even on the floor of this House,
'peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must'" (Works, 1897, V, 58). It is
the Clay version that has become a familiar quotation.
In the _Boston Herald_ of November 23, 1904, appeared the following:
"In a signed article in the Huntsville, Ala., _Mercury_, R. T. Bentley,
a well-known man, says:
"'It appearing that Theodore Roosevelt, the head and front of
the republican party, which represents the dangerous policies of
civilization, protective tariff, imperialism and social equality, has
been elected president of the United States by a strictly sectional
vote, and has established an insurmountable barrier between the north
and south, I feel constrained to express my humble opinion, as a true
and patriotic American citizen of the south, that if the republican
party should continue its dangerous policies for the next 4 yrs. and
should triumph in the next national election, that the 13 states which
voted for A. B. Parker should secede from the union and by force of
arms resist an oppression which means the early fall of our great
republic.'"
At the present day such a statement merely excites amusement, as no one
takes it seriously; but in 1812 it was different.
[34] _Aurora_, July 7, 1812, p. 2-2.
[35] _Portsmouth Oracle_, August 22, 1812, p. 4-1.
[36] _Aurora_, July 27, 1813.
[37] Caleb Strong was one of the twenty-eight "Barristers and Attornies
at Law" who addressed Gage on July 1, 1774 (_Boston News-Letter_,
July 7, 1774, p. 1-1). Those who addressed Gage on his departure in
October, 1775, were of course loyalists; but the addresses to Gage on
his arrival in 1774 were signed by both loyalists and ardent patriots.
Perhaps no one received harder blows from his opponents in the war
of 1812 than Strong. The following toast was given at Bernardston,
Massachusetts: "The governor of Massachusetts. In 1774 the loyal
addresser of Gage, in 1812 and 13 the eulogist and special pleader of
the 'bulwark of our religion'" (_Aurora_, August 3, 1813, p. 1-3).
At Pittsfield, Massachusetts: "Caleb Strong--The man, who by cunning
concealment and tory prevarication, would endeavor to reason away the
rights of his country, is unworthy of its confidence" (_Aurora_, July
22, 1813, p. 1). At Passyunk: "Execration to the hoary head traitorous
vindicator of the barbarities of the monstrous government of England:
His treason is only equal to his cowardice; 'England has done us no
essential injury:' YOU LIE YOU V----" (_Aurora_, July 12, 1813, p. 2-5).
There is an expression in the last toast that has a familiar sound at
the present day.
[38] _Aurora_, August 3, 1813, p. 1-3.
[39] _Aurora_, July 9, 1813, p. 2-4.
[40] _National Intelligencer_ (Washington), July 29, 1813, p. 1-3.
[41] _Military Monitor_, April 5, 1813, I, 254. The following amusing
paragraph may be quoted here: "_Remarkable Incident._--On the 4th
of July, 1812, General CHANDLER gave as a toast at _Augusta_:--'The
4th of July 1813--May WE on that day _drink wine within the walls of
Quebec_!' On this same 4th of July he was within the walls of _Quebec_
(a prisoner) and from the known hospitality of the citizens of that
place we have no doubt his wish was literally gratified" (_Columbian
Centinel_, July 7, 1813, p. 2-4).
[42] _Columbian Centinel_, March 9, 1814, p. 2-2.
[43] _Columbian Centinel_, July 9, 1814, p. 1-5.
[44] _Bee_ (Hudson), July 12, 1814, p. 3-3.
[45] _Massachusetts Spy_, July 20, 1814, p. 3-2. It is curious to see
how history repeats itself. Between 1898 and his death, President
McKinley was sometimes alluded to as "William I." In the _Boston
Herald_ of January 28, 1907, we read of "Kaiser Theodore," and in the
same paper of November 11, 1907, of "Theodore I." Just as Monroe was
alluded to in 1814 as "the heir apparent," so now the same term is
applied to Secretary Taft. See _Nation_, August 22, 1907, LXXXV, 153;
_Boston Herald_, November 6, 1907, p. 6-5; _Boston Evening Transcript_,
December 2, 1907; _Boston Herald_, March 3, 1908, p. 6-3. Even the word
"imperial" is not new to our politics. In the _New York Herald_ of May
5, 1813, it was satirically said that "the _bewilderification_ of the
enemy, on beholding our imperial standard, baffles all description" (p.
2-4).
Two examples of the spreadeagleism of the times will prove amusing.
The following toast was given at Waterville, Maine, on July 4, 1815:
"_The Eagle of the United States_--'May she extend her wings from the
_Atlantic_ to the _Pacific_; and fixing her talons on the _Isthmus
of Darien_, stretch with her beak to the _Northern Pole_'" (_Salem
Gazette_, July 18, 1815, p. 4-1). Capt. Ross Bird of the United States
Army having been placed under arrest and bereft of his sword, he sent
in his resignation, in part as follows: "In leaving the service, I am
not abandoning the cause of republicanism, but yet hope to brandish
the glittering steel in the field, and carve my way to a name which
shall prove my country's neglect; and when this mortal part shall be
closetted in the dust, and the soul shall wing its flight for the
regions above, in passing by the palefaced moon, I shall hang my hat
upon brilliant Mars, and make a report to each superlative star--and
arriving at the portals of Heaven's high Chancery, shall demand of the
attending Angel to be ushered into the presence of Washington" (_New
York Herald_, November 10, 1813, p. 1-3).
[46] _New York Herald_, July 13, 1814, p. 1-1.
[47] Two may be specified. The following is taken from the _New York
Herald_ of April 10, 1813: "_Fracas at Albany._--By the passengers in
the Steam Boat we are informed, that a fracas took place in Albany last
Wednesday [April 7], between Col. Peter B. Porter and John Lovett,
Esq., occasioned by some publications which have been made relative to
the affair between Col. S. Van Rensselaer and Col. Porter. It is said
Col. Porter, after some high words had passed, attacked Mr. Lovett with
a cane, on which Mr. Lovett closed in with him and was like to demolish
him, when some of the by-standers interfered and put an end to the
contest" (p. 3-2).
The other case, curiously enough, concerns a man of whom we shall
hear later in connection with the alleged origin of Uncle Sam. In the
_Albany Gazette_ of September 20, 1813, appeared this (p. 3-4):
"The following note has been handed to us by Mr. Butler--We do not
intend to prejudge the cause of dispute by its insertion. The _Gazette_
will be freely open to Mr. Anderson.
"ELBERT ANDERSON, Jun. Contractor U. S. Army, is a base _Villain_, a
_Liar_ and a _Coward_.
James BUTLER.
"18th _September_, 1813."
Anderson and Butler apparently had a hand to hand scrimmage at
Plattsburgh, for in the _Albany Gazette_ of September 30, 1813, was
printed a communication in part as follows (p. 3-3):
"_Albany_, 28th, _Sept._ 1813.
"Messrs. WEBSTERS and SKINNERS,
"A publication having appeared in your paper, during the absence of the
Contractor, signed '_James Butler_,' a friend to the former gentleman,
who was an eye witness to the fracas at Plattsburgh, requests you to
publish the following statement from the _Plattsburgh Republican_, of
the 18th inst....
"A rash man has applied to the Contractor for the Army, epithets of a
libellous and scurrilous nature....
"_Plattsburgh, Sept. 15, 1813._"
So far as I have noted, the incident closed with the publication in
the _Albany Gazette_ of October 4, 1813, of a card from Butler dated
Lansingburgh, September 29, stating that the writer of the above letter
was "an infamous liar" (p. 3-2).
[48] See _New Hampshire Gazette_, September 14, 21, 1813; _New York
Herald_, August 25, 28, 1813; _Columbian Centinel_, December 25, 1813.
[49] _Massachusetts Spy_, December 22, 1813, p. 1-3.
[50] It will be remembered that until 1820 Maine was part of
Massachusetts.
[51] Quoted in the _National Intelligencer_ (Washington), June 8, 1813,
p. 2-3.
[52] I do not know what act is meant.
[53] Quoted in the _New York Herald_, October 2, 1813, p. 3-3. I have
been unable to find a copy of the _Lansingburgh Gazette_ containing the
extract.
[54] Quoted in the _Columbian Centinel_, October 9, 1813, p. 2-3.
[55] The words "more or less" apparently occurred in the official
accounts of the capture of York in April, 1813, but I have not been
able to discover in exactly what connection. At all events, they caused
much fun in the peace papers. "One dead Indian, 'more or less,'" said
the _New York Herald_ of July 14, 1813, p. 1-1. "_Wanted_," declared
the _Columbian Centinel_ of December 4, 1813, "about five hundred
('more or less') able-bodied, stout-hearted _real Americans_, to
collect our _land tax_ in our territory of Canada" (p. 2-3).
[56] Quoted in the _Connecticut Courant_, February 8, 1814, p. 3-2.
The same passage is quoted in the _Massachusetts Spy_ of February 9,
1814, p. 2-3, and February 23, p. 4-3, except that in both instances
the words "'Uncle Sam's' hard bargains" are omitted.
[57] Quoted in the _Salem Gazette_, February 14, 1814, p. 3-3. See p.
29, note 33, above.
[58] Quoted in the _New York Spectator_, May 7, 1814, p. 1-1. The
passage was also printed in the _Massachusetts Spy_ of May 25, 1814, p.
3-3.
[59] Quoted in the _Portsmouth Oracle_, May 21, 1814, p. 2-5. The story
of the wagon which started with forty bushels of corn, related by
Timothy Pickering, was reprinted in the _Massachusetts Spy_ of May 25,
1814, p. 3-3, but "Uncle Sam" is omitted.
[60] Quoted in the _Columbian Centinel_, June 29, 1814, p. 2-1.
[61] Quoted in the _New York Herald_, November 16, 1814, p. 3-4.
[62] The story was reprinted in the _New York Herald_ of December 7,
1814, p. 2-3.
[63] Quoted in the _New York Herald_, December 21, 1814, p. 3-5.
[64] The extract was reprinted in the _Portsmouth Oracle_ of January
28, 1815, p. 3-2; and in the _Connecticut Courant_ of February 7, 1815,
p. 3-1.
[65] Quoted in the _Salem Gazette_, January 21, 1815, p. 3-1;
_Portsmouth Oracle_, February 4, p. 3-1; _Connecticut Courant_,
February 7, p. 1-3.
[66] Supplement to _Niles' Register_, VII, 187. That volume ended with
the issue of February 25, 1815.
[67] Supplement to _Niles' Register_, IX, 95. That volume ended with
the issue of February 24, 1816. The _Albany Register_ of December 6,
1814, advertised a play, farce, and "Naval Pillar" to take place at the
theatre the following evening "in honor of the memorable Naval Conflict
on Lake Champlain, fought on the glorious Eleventh of September" (p.
3-4). The song in the text may have been written for that occasion,
though it is not mentioned in the advertisement.
[68] See p. 33, above.
[69] There are constant allusions in the newspapers to Greenbush. The
_Connecticut Courant_ of September 29, 1812, printed an extract dated
Pittsfield, September 17: "_Democratic Economy._--Within a few days
past, several waggon loads of _Vinegar_ and _Molasses_ have passed
through this village, on the way from Boston to Greenbush, near Albany.
These articles were purchased at Boston for the use of the troops at
Greenbush. The vinegar cost the government Five Dollars per barrel, in
Boston; and according to the statement of the teamsters, the expence of
transportation would be much more than the first cost. Now we are told,
and we believe correctly, that vinegar can be purchased in Albany at
less than four dollars per barrel. And we presume that molasses can be
bought in Albany and New-York, as cheap as in Boston.--Why, then, this
enormous expence of transportation!--So goes the people's money!" (p.
2-5).
[70] As late as February, 1815, the editor of a Baltimore paper thought
it necessary to explain the meaning of the term. See p. 38, note 66,
above. The newspapers throughout the war literally swarm with allusions
to John Bull, Yankee, Yankee Doodle, and Brother Jonathan. On the other
hand, no allusion to Uncle Sam has yet been found before September,
1813, while from then until 1816 I have encountered less than thirty
examples, all of which are quoted or cited in the present paper either
in text or footnotes. This statement is based on an examination of
newspapers published during 1812-1815 in Portsmouth, Salem, Boston,
Worcester, Hartford, Troy, Albany, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Washington.
[71] As this tract of 142 pages is apparently rare, I give the
title: "The Adventures of Uncle Sam, in Search after his lost Honor.
By Frederick Augustus Fidfaddy, Esq., Member of the Legion of
Honor, Scratch-etary to Uncle Sam, and Privy Counsellor to himself.
Middletown: Printed by Seth Richards. 1816." It was copyrighted May 16,
1816.
[72] Jefferson.
[73] The Canadians.
[74] Henry A. Proctor, the British general.
[75] Adventures of Uncle Sam, pp. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 53, 96, 140.
[76] See p. 22, note 3, above.
[77] Letters from the South written during an Excursion in the Summer
of 1816, (1817), II, 207, 208, 210.
[78] Memorable Days in America (1823), p. 126. See also pp. 99, 140,
162, 188, 215, 225, 262, 381.
[79] _Niles' Register_, XXI, 199. See also XXI, 38, 197.
[80] Sketches, p. 165. In her Southern Tour, published in 1831,
Mrs. Royall wrote: "Besides the collector [at the custom house, New
Orleans], they have ... 44 clerks, gaugers, inspectors, &c. Most of
these were as shabby a set of gawks, as ever disgraced Uncle Sam" (p.
32).
[81] This singular expression, now obsolete or obsolescent, was common
in the first half of the nineteenth century. It was originally the
slang of the boatmen on the Mississippi and other Western rivers. See
C. Schultz, Jr., Travels (1810), II, 145, 146. The _Salem Gazette_
of June 12, 1812, a few days before war was declared with England,
printed the following: "Curious Terms of Defiance, New-Orleans April
24. '_Half horse half alligator_'--has hitherto been the boast of our
up-country boatmen, when quarreling. The present season however has
made a complete change. A few days ago two of them quarreled in a boat
at Natchez, when one of them jumping ashore declared with a horrid
oath that he was a _steamboat_. His opponent immediately followed him,
swearing he was an _earthquake_ and would shake him to pieces--and in
fact almost literally executed his threat." The _Salem Gazette_ added
"It is these monsters of the western wilds that are forcing the people
of the Atlantic shores into an unnecessary and ruinous war" (p. 4-1).
[82] _New York Mirror_, February 19, 1831, VIII, 260, 261. The
indefatigable Paulding contributed to the _United States and Democratic
Review_ for April, 1851, an article called "Uncle Sam and his
'B'hoys,'" from which the following is extracted: "Uncle Sam talks
'big' sometimes, like his old dad, Squire Bull, who was reckoned the
greatest bragger of his day, till Uncle Sam grew up and disputed the
point with him" (XXVIII, 299).
[83] Tour to the North and Down East, p. 202. Uncle Sam had previously
figured in the Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (1834), p. 86.
[84] The Rambler in America, I, 160.
[85] Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States, II, 301.
[86] Letters from the Frontiers (1868), p. 335. See also p. 354. This
is the first use of the term by an army officer that I have noted.
[87] Bentley's Miscellany, IV, 43, 294.
[88] Diary in America, II, 42, 43.
[89] The Clockmaker; or the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick, of
Slickville, first appeared in the columns of the _Nova Scotian_ in
1835-1836, and was first published in book form at Halifax in 1837.
In a conversation supposed to have taken place between Edward Everett
and Sam Slick, the latter remarked: "Well, I don't know, said I, but
somehow or another, I guess you'd found preaching the best speculation
in the long run; them are Unitarians pay better than Uncle Sam (we
call, said the Clockmaker, the American public Uncle Sam, as you can
the British, John Bull)" (The Clockmaker, second edition, Concord,
1838, p. 43).
Mr. Robert G. Haliburton relates this anecdote of Judge Haliburton:
"On his arrival in London, the son of Lord Abinger (the famous Sir
James Scarlett) who was confined to his bed, asked him to call on his
father, as there was a question which he would like to put to him.
When he called, his Lordship said, 'I am convinced that there is a
veritable Sam Slick in the flesh now selling clocks to the Bluenoses.
Am I right?' 'No,' replied the Judge, 'there is no such person. He
was a pure accident. I never intended to describe a Yankee clockmaker
or Yankee dialect; but Sam Slick slipped into my book before I was
aware of it, and once there he was there to stay'" (in Haliburton: a
Centenary Chaplet, Toronto, 1897, pp. 25, 26).
[90] Book of the Navy, pp. 297, 298. The story occurs in the "Naval
Anecdotes" in the Appendix. Some of the stories and songs in this
Appendix appear in the Supplement to _Niles' Register_, 1816, IX; but
the Wilson story is not there.
As an illustration of the extraordinary changes undergone in
repetition, I give the story as it was printed in 1870 by Brewer in
his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: "Sam. _Uncle Sam._ The United
States government. Mr. Frost tells us that the inspectors of Elbert
Anderson's store on the Hudson were Ebenezer and his uncle Samuel
Wilson, the latter of whom superintended in person the workmen, and
went by the name of 'Uncle Sam.' The stores were marked E.A.--U.S.
(_Elbert Anderson_, _United States_), and one of the employers being
asked the meaning, said U. S. stood for 'Uncle Sam.' The joke took, and
in the War of Independence the men carried it with them, and it became
stereotyped" (p. 783).
Brewer goes on to say: "_To stand Sam._ To be made to pay the
reckoning. This is an Americanism, and arose from the letters U. S. on
the knapsacks of the soldiers. The government of Uncle Sam has to pay
or 'stand Sam' for all. (_See above._)" In 1871 De Vere wrote: "In the
army, it seems, even this designation [i. e. Uncle Sam] was deemed too
full and formal, and, as early as the year 1827, it became a familiar
saying among soldiers, to _stand Sam_, whenever drinks or refreshments
of any kind had to be paid for. As they were accustomed to see _Uncle
Sam_ pay for all their wants, to _stand Sam_, became to their minds
equivalent to the ordinary slang phrase: to stand treat" (p. 251). In
1891 J. Maitland said: "Sam, 'to stand Sam' (Amer.), to stand treat"
(American Slang Dictionary, p. 229). And in 1891 J. M. Dixon wrote:
"Sam.--_To stand Sam_--to entertain friends; to pay for refreshments.
U. Sam is a contraction for 'Uncle Sam,' a jocular name for the U.
S. Government. The phrase, therefore, originally means to pay all
expenses, as the Government does" (Dictionary of Idiomatic English
Phrases, p. 282). Brewer's statement, having been adopted by several
writers, requires consideration. As a matter of fact, not only is the
phrase "to stand Sam"--meaning "to be answerable for," "to become
surety for," "to pay the reckoning," or "to pay for the drinks,"--not
an Americanism, but it has never, so far as I know, even been employed
in this country. The words "Sam" and "Sammy" have been used in various
senses in English dialects for a hundred and thirty years, an instance
dated 1777 being recorded in the English Dialect Dictionary. To the
examples of "upon my Sam," an expletive, quoted in the same work from
Frank's Nine Days (1879), p. 12, and Zack's On Trial (1899), p. 220,
may be added another from R. Marsh's Tom Ossington's Ghost (1900), p.
216. "Sammy," meaning "foolish, silly," was recognized as early as 1823
in Pierce Egan's edition of Grose's Classical Dictionary; and examples
dated 1837 and 1843 are quoted in Farmer and Henley's Slang and its
Analogues (1903). The expression "to stand Sam" or "to stand Sammy" is
recognized in Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words
(1847), in Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English
(1857), in Hotten's Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words
(1859), in Barrère and Leland's Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant
(1890), in Farmer and Henley's Slang and its Analogues (1903), and in
the English Dialect Dictionary. "Landlady," wrote Moncrieff in 1823,
"serve them with a glass of tape, all round; and I'll stand Sammy"
(Tom and Jerry, III, 5). Besides this extract, Farmer and Henley quote
others from Ainsworth's Rookwood (1834), Hindley's Cheap Jack (1876),
Black's White Heather (1885), Henley's Villon's Good-Night (1887),
Licensed Victuallers' _Gazette_ (1890), and Milliken's 'Arry Ballads
(1890); and to these may be added others from _Punch_, August 20, 1881,
LXXXI, 75, and from W. De Morgan's Joseph Vance (1906), p. 465. Every
known example is from a British author.