On June 28, 1776, less than a week before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, a British fleet of nine warships attacked Charleston. The formidable British navy had not lost a sea battle in over a century. Fort Moultrie, emplaced on Sullivan’s Island at the entrance to Charleston’s harbor, returned fire, and for nine hours the British fleet bombarded the fort with 200 guns. But Fort Moultrie’s 30 cannons eventually forced the British ships to retire, and thereby saved Charleston. During the 1860’s, Confederates manning Fort Moultrie were bombarded for nearly two years by Union navy ships, yet their 32-pounder guns managed to keep them at bay. In this image, I recall both of those events by using a 24mm wideangle lens to lead the eye into the frame with the massive cannon at right. The cannon, in turn, calls attention to the puffy dark cloud that floats across the center of the image, resembling a ghostly barrage of gun smoke.