How many stars and stripes did the original Star-Spangled Banner display when Francis Scott Key saw it in 1814?

The original Star-Spangled Banner displayed 15 stars and 15 stripes when Francis Scott Key saw it in 1814.

The enormous flag flew over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Its survival through the British bombardment inspired Key to write the poem “Defence of Fort M'Henry,” whose words eventually became the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The flag had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes because Congress had added two stars and two stripes when Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union. Later flag designs returned to thirteen stripes, representing the original colonies, while continuing to add stars for new states.

The surviving flag was made by Mary Pickersgill and workers in Baltimore. It is now preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. A common mistake is to assume that every historic U.S. flag had thirteen stars and stripes; the Star-Spangled Banner is famous partly because it represents an intermediate design in the flag’s development.