The 1814 Star-Spangled Banner flag had 15 stars.
It also had 15 stripes, representing the 15 states in the Union when the flag was made. Congress had added Vermont and Kentucky to the original 13 states in the Flag Act of 1794, and that law required both new states to be represented by an additional star and stripe.
The huge garrison flag flew over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key saw it after the British bombardment and wrote the poem later known as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The flag is often confused with the modern U.S. flag, whose design uses 13 stripes and a star for each state. In 1818, Congress ended the practice of adding stripes for new states, fixing the number at 13 while continuing to add stars.