The original Star-Spangled Banner flag carried 15 stripes.
The enormous flag flew over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. It displayed 15 white stars and 15 horizontal red-and-white stripes. The two extra stars and stripes represented Vermont and Kentucky, which had joined the Union after the original 13 states.
The Flag Act of 1794 had authorized the 15-star, 15-stripe design. Congress later changed the design in 1818, restoring the number of stripes to 13 for the original colonies while continuing to add stars for new states. This is why the historic flag differs from the modern U.S. flag.
Francis Scott Key saw the flag flying over Fort McHenry after the bombardment and wrote the poem that became “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The flag is now preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, although fabric has been lost over time.