In this episode of Whitewashed History we pick up the story of our flag with the War of 1812 and the very first Star Spangled Banner.

There had been many renditions of the Stars & Stripes, but it wasn't until Major George Armistead unfurled Mary Pickersgill's enormous garrison flag over Fort McHenry that a lawyer named Francis Scott Key gave it the title 'The Star Spangled Banner'.

The story of the writing of our national anthem is well known, but the conditions that led to the Battle of Baltimore are not usually part of the story. Why did General Ross burn Washington DC to the ground, and how did we get into another fight with the British so close to our Revolution?

I always thought it was the Brits who started the fight, still smarting from losing the original 13 colonies. Turns out the story (and the impetus for the war) is a lot more American than that.

Finally, we'll get into the controversy around having a national anthem that was written by a slaveholder. This might be the most whitewashed story from the entire war, and the deeper I got down the rabbit hole, the crazier I felt.

There’s usually only one flag from American history that causes controversy, so imagine my surprise when another flag, a Revolutionary flag, started making headlines.

In this bonus episode we dig into the history of the Appeal to Heaven flag, we talk about the controversy with Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito (or rather, his wife), and how this flag of violent revolution ended up in front of the office of the Speaker of the House.

Thank you to Peter Ansoff for his invaluable insight.

Join us on a trip that starts in Ancient Egypt and ends up on Arch Street in Philadelphia.

We see the flag around us everyday, but what do we really know about it? How did it get those colors, for instance, or the stripes? Most flags don’t look like that, how did we get the one with the mis-matched patterns?

And who came up with the stars?

It’s a long, complicated story that involves eagles, and rattlesnakes, and just a little bit of working class derring-do, exactly the kind of thing you want from a real American tale.

Happy Birthday: USA

Teaser for the upcoming show Whitewashed History - first episode available on July 4, 2026!

Whitewashed History explores the ways ancient history shaped the founding of the United States, and how those stories still impact us today.