The true purpose and origin of the popular march Under the Double Eagle is often misunderstood in the United States. It was written by Joseph Franz Wagner (1856 - 1908)—not Richard Wagner, and certainly not John Philip Sousa. Joseph Franz Wagner was the "Viennese March King," a well-known military bandmaster in the service of the Habsburgs. The "double eagle" referred to in the title was the symbol of the conjoined state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was originally published under the title of Unter dem Doppeladler as Wagner's Op. 159, and though the exact date is uncertain, it was probably composed in the 1880s.

Joseph Franz Wagner composed over 400 works, mostly marches, and while more than half this number was published in Europe, only Under the Double Eagle and handful of his other pieces have ever appeared in the United States. Under the Double Eagle made its American debut as a piano and band score arranged by Theodore Tobani in 1894. It was quickly picked up by Sousa's Band and became immediately popular, being widely distributed on early sound reproduction devices, such as primitive phonograph records, pianolas and music boxes. To this day Under the Double Eagle has remained a staple of small-town brass band literature and is commonly played as a circus march. It can even be heard on antique carousels in the United States.

It is a simple march, with a fanfare-like opening and a prominent bass part in the second strain, which is repeated at the end. In Vienna, Under the Double Eagle is still used as the official regimental march of the 1st Austrian Artillery, Second Regiment, although the Empire this march was created to serve perished in the First World War. The long-held notion that Under the Double Eagle has some historical significance as an icon of American patriotism is in error.

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