"This appellation corresponds with our 'John Bull'; and is supposed to be derived from the initials U.S. As the nation has not yet been able to fix upon a distinctive title, perhaps that of Caucasia would not be inappropriate."[85] #/ On December 28, 1836, General George A. McCall said: "At the usual hour for the examination of recruits, one bright spring morning, the surgeon and myself having _assembled_ in my office high up in Market Street for the purpose I have stated, the sergeant brought, among other candidates for the honor of serving '_Uncle Sam_,' a perfect Hercules in physical Development."[86] In 1838 there appeared in Bentley's Miscellany a series of articles called Uncle Sam's Peculiarities, from which the following is extracted: "We must here digress from our immediate subject, for the purpose of properly introducing one of the most celebrated characters now _talked_ of. This personage, _Major Jack Downing_ by name, is in everybody's notice as a great American jester, but, like _Uncle Sam_, is _but a name_. There may originally have been a Major Jack Downing, a comical 'military' officer, and there may also have been an Uncle Sam in Boston, whose initials happening to be the same as the initial letters of the United States was, from a postmaster, or government contractor of Massachusetts Bay, converted into the impersonation, or great federal representative of the twenty-six States, including Jonathan's own five particular States, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New England, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. But Major Jack and Uncle Sam of Boston (_mortal_ Sam) both sleep with their forefathers, if they ever had any, leaving only their names behind; glorious Jack being famous in _story_, and Uncle Sam's initials, U. S., being wedded to _E. Pluribus unum_, for better or worse, until the twenty-six stars of North America shall be separated by some violent effort of nature, or a general convulsion of Yankee Republicanism. But if _Major Jack_ is never seen _in propria persona_, he is sometimes represented by others, who prefer his name to their own. One of Mister Joseph Miller's jokes is of a fanatic, who gave thanks for being shown some relicts in a monastery, and added, 'This is the sixteenth head of John the Baptist I have seen in Italy.' A traveller in the United States is reminded of this Joe, and of King Dick's 'six Richmonds in the field,' by hearing of Major Jack Downing of American ubiquity, who is spread abroad and met with as a resident in most of the large towns and many of the quiet villages, and is moreover, one of the most witty correspondents of that many-headed monster, the Public Press.... The military are for a minute obstructed by six gaily-painted covered carts filled with merchandise, which their owners, the 'western