The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
4 March 1918 is the first recorded case at Camp Funston, which is the earliest documented outbreak rather than a proven origin - the pandemic's beginning is genuinely disputed.
The National Archives' documentary record of the epidemic in the United States.
Something missing or wrong? Say it in your own words: a link that backs this pin up, a different start or end date and why, or a fact it lacks or gets wrong. The AI checks it against this pin's sources, searches for better ones, and adds any page that backs you up. The pin's own sources still count most.