3-2). "An ambitious president ... might march the militia ... out of
the U. S. and keep the whole of the regular force within" (_Connecticut
Courant_, January 22, 1812, p. 3-4). "The Gull Traps which are now
set through the U. States" (_Columbian Centinel_, February 19, 1812,
p. 2-2). "Equipped at the expense of the U.S." (_Salem Gazette_, July
31, 1812, p. 3-2). "The army of the U.S." (_Yankee_, August 21, 1812,
p. 3-2). "Which cost the U.S. five dollars to transport to Greenbush"
(_Columbian Centinel_, September 26, 1812, p. 2-2). "War ... between
the U.S. and G.B." (_Columbian Centinel_, December 19, 1812, p. 2-3).
"Four regiments of U.S. troops" (_Columbian Centinel_, December 26,
1812, p. 2-3). "The enemies of the U. States" (_New York Spectator_,
January 9, 1813, p. 2-5). "The President of the U. States" (_National
Intelligencer_, January 12, 1813, p. 3-1). "The U. S. Senate" (_New
York Spectator_, February 11, 1813, p. 1-1). "What shall we say
of her conduct during the present war with the U.S.?" (_National
Intelligencer_, April 3, 1813, p. 3-4). "A regiment of U. S. troops"
(_Columbian Centinel_, June 16, 1813, p. 2-4). "The Navy of the U.S."
(_Yankee_, July 23, 1813, p. 3-1). "U.S. Law" (_New England Palladium_,
August 31, 1813, p. 1-1). "Gen. Varnum, ... (whose recent votes in
the U. States' Senate shew, that he is beginning to reflect)" (_New
England Palladium_, September 3, 1813). All these citations, which
could be multiplied indefinitely, are of an earlier date than the first
appearance of Uncle Sam. A few instances previous to 1812 may be given.
"Major Rice of Hingham, we are informed, is appointed a Colonel in
the U.S. army" (_Columbian Centinel_, October 27, 1798, p. 2-4). "The
President of the U. States" (_Columbian Centinel_, March 20, 1799, p.
2-2). "Christopher Gore, Esq. Commissioner of the U. S. at the Court of
London" (_Columbian Centinel_, March 20, 1799, p. 2-4). "The President
of the U.S." (_Columbian Centinel_, March 14, 1807, p. 2-3). But while,
as thus seen, the initials U. S. were perfectly familiar to Americans
in 1812 and 1813, yet no doubt the war with England made them still
more common. Attention may also be called to the example of "U.Sam"
quoted on p. 37, above.
[112] Page 22. A copy of the opera in the Ridgway branch of the Library
Company of Philadelphia has written in ink on the title page, "by Col.
Thomas Forrest of Germantown. S." Who "S." was, I do not know. John F.
Watson also stated that "Mr. Forrest wrote a very humorous play, (which
I have seen printed)" (Annals of Philadelphia, 1830, p. 232).
[113] _New York Journal_, October 13, 1768, p. 2-2.
[114] Collections, Historical and Miscellaneous; and Monthly Literary
Journal, III, 158, 159.
[115] It is in a collection of Songs, Ballads, etc., in three volumes,
presented to the Society by Isaiah Thomas in August, 1814, and stated
by him to have been "Purchased from a Ballad Printer and Seller, in
Boston, 1813. Bound up for Preservation--to shew what the articles of
this kind are in vogue with the Vulgar at this time, 1814." In 1903 the
Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale printed this version in his New England
History in Ballads, pp. 116-120.
[116] My attention was called to this in 1901 by Mr. Worthington C.
Ford, who kindly sent me a blue print of it. As the library officials
have for years been unable to find the volume containing the original,
my blue print is valuable. The title, and the fact that at the top of
the broadside is a cut of a drummer and three soldiers, make me think
that this version is older than the other.
[117] By earlier, I merely mean that it was printed earlier. The words
of the two versions are practically identical.
[118] Historical Magazine, I, 92.
[119] The Contrast, Act III, Scene i, p. 45. For purposes of
comparison, I give the first stanza. Tyler has it:
"Father and I went up to camp,
Along with Captain Goodwin;
And there we saw the men and boys,
As thick as hasty-pudding."
The version owned by this Society reads:
"Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we see the men and boys,
As thick as hastypudding."
The Farmer and Moore version is as follows:
"Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Goodwin,
Where we _see_ the men and boys
As thick as Hasty-_puddin_."
It is of course possible that my blue print is earlier than 1789, but
its date is purely conjectural.
Dr. Hale writes: "An autograph note of Judge Dawes, of the Harvard
class of 1777, addressed to my father, says that the author of the
well-known lines was Edward Bangs, who graduated with him." It is
curious that some (but not all) of the lines should have first been
printed in a play written by a member of the Harvard class of 1776.
[120] In a song called Brother Jonathan, doubtless written in 1708,
when war with France was thought imminent, and printed in 1800 in The
Nightingale, or Rural Songster (Dedham), p. 118, is found this stanza:
"I think it's darned wrong, be sure,
Because we us'd 'em clever;
An' uncle vums a sailor works
Much harder than a weaver."
Throughout the war of 1812, song after song was written to the air of
Yankee Doodle.
[121] An article headed "The D.D.'s," which was printed in the
_Kansas Herald of Freedom_ of August 25, 1855, begins as follows:
"The _Missouri Democrat_ has a very fine article under this head. It
says the politicians have lately taken upon themselves the liberty of
conferring the degree of D.D. upon its voters with a most promiscuous
irreverence" (p. 2-3). It states that Thomas H. Benton was responsible
for the nicknames applied to Petitt and Douglas.
[122] Notes and Queries, Ninth Series, V, 380, 439 (May 12, June 2,
1900); Tenth Series, VII, 257 (March 30, 1907).
[123] See W. F. G. Shanks's Personal Recollections of distinguished
Generals (1866), p. 117.
[124] _Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper_, quoted in Notes and Queries, Ninth
Series, V. 104 (February 10, 1900).
[125] Notes and Queries, Ninth Series, X, 503 (December 27, 1902).
[126] Notes and Queries, Ninth Series, X, 503 (December 27, 1902).
[127] Notes and Queries, Ninth Series, X, 503 (December 27, 1902).
By a still further exercise of humor, an article in an English journal
on the London "Bobby" is headed "Robert Again" (Black and White, July
25, 1903, XXVI, 110); while the London _Times_ converts Tommy Atkins
into "Mr. Thomas Atkins." Similarly, Uncle Sam becomes Uncle Samuel,
of which an instance dated 1816 has already been given. (See p. 41,
above.) "Our good Uncle Samuel," wrote General Randolph B. Marcy in
1872 (Border Reminiscences, p. 66). A letter which appeared in the
_Philadelphia Aurora_ of October 14, 1812, was signed "Johannes Taurus"
(p. 1-1).
[128] See p. 33, above.
[129] See p. 34, above.
[130] See p. 43, above.
[131] See p. 44, above.
[132] See p. 45, above.
It need hardly be pointed out that the word "uncle" has long been
employed in this country. In a play written in 1815, David Humphreys
made Doolittle, the Yankee hero, thus soliloquize about the Countess
St. Luc, another character in the play: "I like her tu; though she is
so tarnation strange and sad, by what I larnt jest now. She's quite a
decent, clever woman--ladyship, I shood say; about as nice and tidy
a crittur as ever trod shews'-leather. (_Looking at the glass as he
passes, and admiring himself_) Well! my fortin's made. I woodn't give
that (_snapping his fingers_) to call the _President_ and all the
_Congress 'Uncle!'_ Why, I am as fine as a fiddle" (Act I, p. 39). On
September 3, 1838, Hawthorne said: "The Revolutionary pensioners come
out into the sunshine to make oath that they are still above ground.
One, whom Mr. S---- saluted as 'Uncle John,' went into the bar-room,
walking pretty stoutly by the aid of a long, oaken staff" (American
Note-Books, 1883, I, 190). In 1853 Lowell wrote: "'Do you think it
will rain?' With the caution of a veteran _auspex_, he evaded a direct
reply. 'Wahl, they _du_ say it's a sign o' rain comin', said he. I
discovered afterwards that my interlocutor was Uncle Zeb. Formerly,
every New England town had its representative uncle. He was not a
pawnbroker, but some elderly man who, for want of more defined family
ties, had gradually assumed this avuncular relation to the community"
(Moosehead Journal, Prose Works, 1890, I, 16). The _Salem, Gazette_ of
June 13, 1815, contained a paragraph headed, "The Cogitations of Uncle
John" (p. 3-2). It has already been pointed out that Timothy Pickering
was nicknamed "Uncle Tim," See p. 26, above.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation errors repaired. Archaic spelling retained.
Footnote 5, "June" was italicized in the original text. It was changed
to plain text to match the format of the rest of the text. (_Portsmouth
Oracle_, June 26)