Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NG
Edinburgh Castle held prisoners of war during the American Revolutionary War and among them were captured American sailors. One left a remarkable mark: scratched into the heavy wooden prison doors is what is believed to be one of the earliest known depictions of the Stars and Stripes, carved by a prisoner who likely never saw his new nation’s flag officially adopted.
The doors are now on display inside the castle. This small act of defiance, a sailor affirming his allegiance to a republic that barely existed, is a quietly extraordinary artefact of the war that created America. It reminds us that the struggle for independence was not abstract: it was personal and reached all the way to the prisons of Edinburgh’s formidable castle.
(Note: There is an entry fee for Edinburgh Castle)