"Sorry Guys, We Stormed the Capitol": Eye-Witness Accounts of January 6th (B&W Photograph Edition) (The Chasing History Project)

What Really Happened on January 6th?

When I was a history teacher, I taught that the most trustworthy historical records are primary source documents, written at the time of the events, especially from firsthand witnesses. Then in 2020, I kinda snapped and decided to be that primary source for my own time. So when President Trump gathered his MAGA supporters to do . . . something . . . about what they believed was a stolen election, I went to D.C. to record the event. I interviewed the crowd as they gathered that morning and I kept interviewing them after they somehow took over the Capitol Building. I stood just outside the Capitol doors and spoke to the trespassers themselves at the moment they emerged. They told me what they did, what they witnessed, and the motives behind their actions.

This is the true story of January 6th, brought to life in vivid detail, so that you can know what it felt like to be there. We all have different perceptions of the same reality, but by combining those distinct viewpoints with some critical reasoning, we can piece together something more. Not the narrative pushed by one political agenda or another, but the truth, or as close as we can ever get. Join my investigation, and together we can unpack the accurate and absurd details behind the most controversial day in recent memory.

What really happened on January 6th? Come with me and find out.

-Ben Hamilton